Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Lifestyle

This Week’s Hottest Real Estate Listings, Ranked by Climate Risk

Understanding the long-term habitability of the the houses featured this week at The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Dwell, and Architectural Digest.

Houses.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Zillow scrolling has been co-opted by the media. Real estate sections now dominate at The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Dwell, and Architectural Digest. Even the New York Post is in on the action.

But I can’t scroll real estate listings without considering the climate risk. So in partnership with Habitable, a climate-focused real estate platform I founded last month, Heatmap is putting its own spin on the trend. Below, we’re adding a simple climate risk score to put real estate listings featured around the web in the context of “could you really live here long-term?” It’s a more informed way to dream about real estate. Using a model developed by a team of Berkeley data scientists at Climate Check, Habitable scores each property for heat, flood, drought, and fire risk on a scale of 1-10. One represents the lowest risk and 10 is the highest. Our rating for each hazard is based on climate change projections through 2050. (You can check your own home’s climate risk here.)

We’ve applied the Habitable Index to some notable real estate finds this week. Read on for our list of most habitable to least habitable listings.

1. The Gilded Age Mansion that’s getting a little warm

Gilded Age mansion.Compass

A proper palace across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue in New York City has very low risk other than to your bank account. This $80-million Gilded Age Mansion has little climate exposure, no flooding and moderate heat risk. All that marble probably keeps things cool. (Listed at Architectural Digest.)

Habitable score


2. The Gothic Estate whose biggest concern isn’t the moderate drought risk

Gothic estateMonmouth Ocean Regional Realtors

This gothic estate in Red Bank, N.J. (is that a moat??) is surprisingly not at risk for flooding. And while only a moderate risk for drought and heat, the house does risk overwhelming you with architectural styles and animal prints. $1,575,000. (Listed at The New York Times)

Habitable score


3. A hot D.C. townhouse once owned by the Kennedys

JFK house.Compass

I would easily live in this pristine D.C, townhouse, JFK and Jackie Kennedy’s first home, despite my aversion to hot weather. Posted by Dwell, the $2.6-million house’s only climate risk is high heat — it’s DC after all. If you can take the heat, the place has quite a nice kitchen.

Habitable score


4. The Bill Murray cottage that’s crying out for fans

Bill Murray house.Andrea B. Swenson/Ellis Sotheby’s International Realty

Architectural Digest also announced Bill Murray’s adorable upstate N.Y. house — The Manse — for sale. This cute clapboard home has little climate risk other than… why is it so hot? .

At $2,075,000, you will need many fans to survive the hot humid upstate summer.

Habitable score


5. The L.A. beauty that will leave you thirsty

LA House.Cameron Carothers for Sotheby’s International Realty

Living in this mid-century beauty will be super cool (and not hot at all) but with a 9/10 risk for drought, the fire risk (5/10) feels even more real. Habitable? Inhabitable? It’s a coin toss (stock up on water barrels?) because it’s such a beautiful place. $2.6 million. (Listed by Dwell)

Habitable score


6. The $59 million flood plain

Water Mill mansion.Hedgerow Exclusive Properties

Ooh this is going to be an expensive flood! The $59-million Water Mill mansion on 12 acres of waterfront will stay cool but not at all dry. (Listed on WSJ)

Habitable score


7. The $5 million disaster waiting to happen

Sotheby’s International Realty

The WSJ’s headline for this adorable $4,995,000 home on a marsh and tidal creek says it all: What the hell is going on? The house is outfitted to survive floods,the first floor is open and permeable, and the views are insane, but it is South Carolina — at high risk for coastal flooding. Start building the ark.

Habitable score


If you enjoyed this article, sign up for Heatmap Daily to receive our top articles delivered to your inbox Monday through Friday:

* indicates required
  • Blue

    You’re out of free articles.

    Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
    To continue reading
    Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
    or
    Please enter an email address
    By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
    Energy

    The EPA’s Backdoor Move to Hobble the Carbon Capture Industry

    Why killing a government climate database could essentially gut a tax credit

    Lee Zeldin.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    The Trump administration’s bid to end an Environmental Protection Agency program may essentially block any company — even an oil firm — from accessing federal subsidies for capturing carbon or producing hydrogen fuel.

    On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed that it would stop collecting and publishing greenhouse gas emissions data from thousands of refineries, power plants, and factories across the country.

    Keep reading...Show less
    Blue
    Adaptation

    The ‘Buffer’ That Can Protect a Town from Wildfires

    Paradise, California, is snatching up high-risk properties to create a defensive perimeter and prevent the town from burning again.

    Homes as a wildfire buffer.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    The 2018 Camp Fire was the deadliest wildfire in California’s history, wiping out 90% of the structures in the mountain town of Paradise and killing at least 85 people in a matter of hours. Investigations afterward found that Paradise’s town planners had ignored warnings of the fire risk to its residents and forgone common-sense preparations that would have saved lives. In the years since, the Camp Fire has consequently become a cautionary tale for similar communities in high-risk wildfire areas — places like Chinese Camp, a small historic landmark in the Sierra Nevada foothills that dramatically burned to the ground last week as part of the nearly 14,000-acre TCU September Lightning Complex.

    More recently, Paradise has also become a model for how a town can rebuild wisely after a wildfire. At least some of that is due to the work of Dan Efseaff, the director of the Paradise Recreation and Park District, who has launched a program to identify and acquire some of the highest-risk, hardest-to-access properties in the Camp Fire burn scar. Though he has a limited total operating budget of around $5.5 million and relies heavily on the charity of local property owners (he’s currently in the process of applying for a $15 million grant with a $5 million match for the program) Efseaff has nevertheless managed to build the beginning of a defensible buffer of managed parkland around Paradise that could potentially buy the town time in the case of a future wildfire.

    Keep reading...Show less
    Spotlight

    How the Tax Bill Is Empowering Anti-Renewables Activists

    A war of attrition is now turning in opponents’ favor.

    Massachusetts and solar panels.
    Heatmap Illustration/Library of Congress, Getty Images

    A solar developer’s defeat in Massachusetts last week reveals just how much stronger project opponents are on the battlefield after the de facto repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act.

    Last week, solar developer PureSky pulled five projects under development around the western Massachusetts town of Shutesbury. PureSky’s facilities had been in the works for years and would together represent what the developer has claimed would be one of the state’s largest solar projects thus far. In a statement, the company laid blame on “broader policy and regulatory headwinds,” including the state’s existing renewables incentives not keeping pace with rising costs and “federal policy updates,” which PureSky said were “making it harder to finance projects like those proposed near Shutesbury.”

    Keep reading...Show less
    Yellow