The number of households in Britain at risk of flooding will more than double by 2050 to more than 1.9m owing to the effects of climate change, research from data provider MSCI has found. Properties from high-street shops to houses in significant swaths of Britain, the world’s third most valuable property market in US dollar terms, will face higher insurance premiums, according to the report on climate risk in real estate portfolios.
“Flooding is the most prevalent climate hazard in the UK and models predict that flood occurrences will continue to rise,” it said. For example, in the West Midlands, about 30 percent of homes were deemed at a medium to a high level of flooding risk, based on location and value data from December 2018, MSCI said.
In Reading, 40 miles west of London, 54 percent of properties were considered at risk of flooding. Record flooding affected Britain in December 2015. Many scientists have said it was partly attributable to climate change and a political row erupted in the wake of the crisis over sums allocated to flood prone areas.
Householders living in flood-prone parts of Britain have in recent years been helped by Flood Re, a multibillion-pound scheme set up by the government and insurance industry in 2016 to cap premiums for people living in homes built earlier than 2009. Up to 350,000 homes might eventually be covered.
Britain’s coastal communities may have to be relocated because of rising sea levels and increased risk of flooding because of climate change, Environment Agency chair Emma Howard Boyd said earlier.