While a big part of real estate has always been about location, younger Canadians are increasingly taking that message to heart when considering where to purchase homes, looking into how different areas are likely to be affected by severe weather. According to a new study conducted by Leger for Rates.ca and BNN Bloomberg, 64 per cent of young Canadians (between the ages of 18 to 34) were making the risk of severe weather a point of concern in their purchases. Comparatively, those in older groups were less likely to consider severe weather, with 68 per cent of respondents those 55 and older saying they were less likely to have it influence their decision.
Recentness was also found to be a big factor, as those who bought homes in the last two years were more than twice as likely to consider extreme weather as a factor, than those who purchased more than two years ago, which has likely been influenced by wildfires and floods observed during that period.
Says Blair Feltmate, head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo, to CTV News, “Canadian homeowners are paying closer attention to flood and wildfire risk when purchasing a home. With the impact of [extreme weather] featuring almost nightly on newscasts, homeowners are also increasingly aware of how flooding in communities can affect a home’s value.”
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