Extreme weather’s $23 billion and growing problem for the housing market

But federal and local governments, as well as private companies, are working on ways to mitigate those risks and their financial impacts. Climate change can come across as abstract and over-politicized, causing many homeowners to tune out and ignore climate concerns, says John Rogers, chief innovation officer at CoreLogic, an information, analytics, and data-enabled services provider. And he agrees that it is just going to get worse. “The severity and frequency of major weather events, unfortunately, is likely to go up,” says Rogers. 

Homeowners end up paying the price—in more ways than one. In fact, insurers are already fleeing what they call “challenging” markets. There are no better examples than Florida and California, where insurance companies are either pulling out of the states completely or reducing their presence, as Fortune previously reported. 

There are several factors at play, but the increasing frequency and intensity of hurricanes is a big one in Florida, Rogers says. California’s not too far off, with some insurance companies putting a cap on new policies or no longer writing new policies in the state.

That’s exacerbating housing-related crises in the states, both of which saw their home prices rise substantially in the pandemic-driven housing boom, pricing out many buyers. In fact, buyers’ concerns over insurance availability and costs are somewhat slowing new home sales in Florida and California. 

Still, Rogers says what he’s seeing in terms of investment by federal and local…