Market Forces

Climate change-driven events—like heat waves, droughts, floods, and fires—cause damage to communities’ and individuals’ health and safety. But these events also threaten the financial well-being of communities across the U.S. through their impact on markets and local economies. These risks are increasingly visible in the housing and mortgage markets. 

In this three-part series, we’ll be breaking down how the climate crisis is creating risk for three key financial systems—and how these risks to the insurance system, the real estate market, and community banking can affect communities. 

Part 3: Climate-related Risks to Community Banking and Credit Unions 

Climate change poses risks to individual banks as well as the entire banking system by damaging banking infrastructure, destroying collateral, and causing borrowers to default on loans. Threats to banks, especially to smaller banks, translate to risks to communities and individual households. Small banks serve local economies, engaging in relationship banking with small businesses and individuals.  Some smaller banks also provide higher interest rates for deposits, more favorable loans than larger banks, and “better overall economic performance for their communities.”   Read More »

Climate change-driven events—like heat waves, droughts, floods, and fires—cause damage to communities’ and individuals’ health and safety. But these events also threaten the financial well-being of communities across the U.S. through their impact on markets and local economies. These risks are increasingly visible in the housing and mortgage markets.

In this three-part series, we’ll be breaking down how the climate crisis is creating risk for three key financial systems—and how these risks to the insurance system, the real estate market, and community banking can affect communities. 

Part 2: Climate-related risks to the housing and mortgage markets 

For many people, their home is their most important financial asset—which is increasingly put at risk by the impacts of climate change.  

While the economic costs of climate-related hazards have been growing, there is mounting concern that housing markets are failing to fully price these risks, creating moral hazard and potentially causing real estate bubbles to develop. Indeed, previous work by EDF researchers has shown that residential properties exposed to flood risk are overvalued by $121–$237 billion.  

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