An estimated 17.3 million single family homes and condos are located in areas throughout the United States with a high or very-high risk of environmental hazards, according to ATTOM Data Solutions.
ATTOM’s Environmental Hazards Housing Risk Index identified single family homes and condos worth an estimated $4.9 trillion that are located in ZIP codes threatened by Superfund sites, brownfields, polluters, or poor air quality.
“Home values are higher and long-term home price appreciation is stronger in ZIP codes without a high risk for any of the four environmental hazards,” ATTOM Data Solutions Senior Vice President Daren Blomquist said in a press release. “Corresponding to that is a higher share of homes still seriously underwater in the ZIP codes with a high risk of at least one environmental hazard, indicating those areas have not regained as much of the home value lost during the downturn.”
“Conversely, home price appreciation over the past five years was actually stronger in the higher-risk ZIP codes, which could reflect the strong influence of investors during this recent housing recovery,” Blomquist said.
The single family homes and condos ATTOM identified as being in high-risk ZIP codes represented 25 percent of the 68.1 million single family homes and condos in the 8,642 ZIP codes analyzed.
More than 6,200 of the ZIP codes analyzed were not at high risk from environmental hazards, ATTOM said.