White House - I wouldn't think is the sort of information they would want out there, even if they produced it.

Bryant

There seems to be this naive perception that housing values will remain steady until the waters are lapping at your door. But that belies the way real estate works.

Almost all real estate is financed for 30 years. That comes with several major limitations.

For one, the lenders want the properties to be insured. Insurance companies are already getting skittish and the properties will be un-insurable long before the waters come all the way up.

The second reason is probably less obvious. The entire value of real estate hinges on the historical assumption of maintained value. We are willing to spend what we do because it is assumed to be worth just as much when we are ready to sell it. But what happens when it becomes widely known that a property will be severely impacted in 30 years? The value of that property would have to be re-evaluated based solely on the usefulness within that time frame. It becomes more like a lease instead of a purchase because you will have little to no value at the end. More importantly, lenders are willing to lend over long periods because they don't consider housing a depreciating asset. Would they be willing to lend you money for 30 years if the asset that is securing the loan is not viable over that time period.

Not the loss in real estate value but the loss in lives.