Zillow Pulls Climate-Risk Scores from 1 Million Listings After Industry Pushback

Zillow has removed an on-site climate-risk feature that rated roughly one million property listings for threats such as wildfire, flood, extreme heat, high winds and poor air quality. The tool, introduced in September, aimed to help buyers weigh climate exposure when shopping for a home, but it was taken down after complaints from real-estate agents and some homeowners who said the rankings hurt sales and could not be challenged.

The California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS), which oversees a property database Zillow uses, was among the objectors. Zillow says it remains committed to helping buyers make informed decisions and will now include outbound links from listings to First Street, the nonprofit that supplied the removed risk index.

Conflicting views on transparency and accuracy

Matthew Eby, founder and CEO of First Street, warned that removing the on-site scores leaves many prospective buyers "flying blind" in a market reshaped by increasingly frequent and severe weather events. "The risk doesn’t go away; it just moves from a pre-purchase decision into a post-purchase liability," he said, warning that families may only learn about unaffordable or unavailable insurance after a disaster.

“Access to accurate risk information before a purchase isn't just helpful; it's essential to protecting consumers and preventing lifelong financial consequences.” — Matthew Eby, First Street

Critics argue that assigning climate risk at the property level is methodologically difficult and that proprietary, highly uncertain models can undermine public confidence. Jesse Keenan, an author and climate-risk management expert at Tulane University, said many scientists and economists caution against relying on opaque risk models and that there is growing bipartisan interest in a stronger government role to standardize property risk assessment.

“I do not believe this is a sign that the brokerage industry is trying to hide climate risks,” Keenan said. “Brokerage firms know they cannot stop the transmission of climate risk information because climate impacts are already being felt far and wide in the sector.”

Why it matters

As the planet warms, extreme weather has increasingly damaged homes and infrastructure. According to a federal database later taken offline during the Trump administration, disasters likely amplified by climate change caused about $182 billion in damages last year. Those mounting risks are driving up home-insurance premiums and making coverage harder to obtain in many high-risk regions — even as population growth continues in hurricane- and flood-prone states such as Florida and parts of the U.S. Southwest.

Warnings about climate exposure can depress demand for vulnerable properties, including high-end homes. The story of a Florida mansion listed at $295 million — located in an area ranked among the highest for flood risk and later removed from the market after price cuts — illustrates how climate scoring can affect sales.

First Street defends its methodology, saying its models are based on peer-reviewed science and validated against real-world outcomes. "So when claims are made that our models are inaccurate, we ask for evidence," Eby said. "To date, all the empirical validation shows our science is working as designed and providing better risk insight than the tools the industry has relied on historically."

The dispute highlights a broader tension: consumers and public-interest advocates want clear, accessible risk data before purchase, while parts of the real-estate industry question the reliability and appeal of property-level scores. Many experts say the solution may lie in greater transparency, standardized methods, and a public role in setting consistent risk-assessment standards.