Climate change is a problem for everyone, but Miami is in a particularly sensitive position; how will that affect its housing market?

Miami’s real estate market has undergone a stunning about-face in the last three years. Driven by international sales and luxury consumers, Miami’s coastal neighborhoods, along with the Miami Beach, Pinecrest, and Coral Gables markets, have risen far beyond their dark days of 2009 and 2010, and are now among the hottest housing markets in the nation.

Far beyond the horizon, though, a question remains – could climate change render all those gains obsolete?

The Challenge of Climate Change in Miami

Indeed, climate change poses particular problems for the entire South Florida region, a fact that Robin McKie covered in urgent detail in a recent article for The Guardian:

• Sea levels have risen 10 inches since the 19th century, and because of that, areas such as Alton Road flood regularly; indeed, the city is currently spending $400 million to halt flooding on Alton.
• By the end of the 21st century, sea levels could rise an additional six to 10 feet, which could cover most of Miami (most of land in the Miami-Dade area is less than 10 feet above sea level).
• If sea levels rise four feet, most of Miami Beach, Key Biscayne, Virginia Key and the area’s other prime areas will be underwater; at six feet, Miami’s waterfront and the Florida Keys will be underwater.
• Because of Miami’s unorthodox geology, which involves porous limestone that socks up rising seawater like a sponge, the city is particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels; in short, rising seawater will fill up the city’s foundations, bubble through drains and pipes and then pollute fresh water.
• Additionally, the lion share of South Florida’s residents live near the sea; of the 4.2 million U.S. citizens who live at an elevation of four feet or less above sea level, 2.4 million are in South Florida.

A Present Concern for Homebuyers in Miami?

We should be clear that not everyone shares McKie’s concern – Miami-based journalist Michael Grunwald, for instance, responded in Time magazine with no shortage of sarcasm to McKie’s projections.

But given Miami’s precarious position with climate change, do such concerns ever factor into the equation with homebuyers?

For Carlos Garcia, the broker/vice president of The Keyes Company, the answer to that question is fairly simple.

“Not at all,” he said. “Clients care more about their view than anything else … Nobody is really concerned about it.”

Even in areas like Miami Beach, which McKie pegged as being especially vulnerable to climate change, Garcia said consumers are much more likely to be blown away by the dazzling ocean views of their property, rather than be concerned about rising sea levels.

“I don’t see [climate change] being a problem,” Garcia reiterated. “They’ve been talking about it since I was a kid, and I’ve lived here all my life.”

Granted, Garcia said that he’s definitely observed changes to Miami’s weather patterns, on account of climate change; the area’s rainy seasons, for instance, now occur in June, rather than April.

“Everything has been pushed forward two months,” he said.