Study: Homes with higher wildfire risk are more expensive

Homes with high fire risk sell for more money than low-risk homes, according to a report by the real estate company Redfin. The average price difference is $120,000 between homes deemed high and low fire risk.

“Suburban homes tend to be more expensive because they’re large, and demand for large homes skyrocketed during the pandemic as Americans sought respite from crowded city life,” said Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari. “Pandemic buyers also hunted for deals due to surging home prices, and while fire-prone homes aren’t cheaper on average, buyers may feel they’re getting more bang for their buck because they’re getting more space. And for some pandemic buyers, the fire-prone home they bought in suburbia was actually cheaper than their last home because they were relocating from somewhere like San Francisco or Seattle.”

Americans continue to move further into "fire-prone suburbs" which offer larger homes, but are often adjacent to forestland. Redfin notes that there has also been a recent surge in homebuyers moving to the suburbs as remote work becomes more common.

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Also according to Redfin's data: "The median sale price of high-risk homes was up 51.7% in April from two years earlier, while the median sale price of low-risk homes was up 40.9%."