Housing
Rising Sea Levels, Plummeting Waterfront Property Values?
Mortgage-backed securities precipitated the Great Recession when we figured out they were worth a fraction of their stated value. Is coastal land next?
All signs are pointing to a slow-but-steady (if uneven) U.S. housing market recovery. But the worst may be yet to come for one valuable slice of the pie: waterfront properties.
Sea level is generally expected to rise three to seven feet by the end of this century. But it could be long before that seaside property values plummet. Oceanographer John Englander puts it this way in his new book, High Tide On Main Street: Rising Sea Level and the Coming Coastal Crisis: “Property values will go underwater long before property actually goes underwater.”