The sociology of property value in a climate-changed United States

In the United States, individual and collective economic well-being is closely tied to homeownership. But there is an emerging set of complex issues where climate impacts intersect with housing markets. As climate disasters hit with greater intensity and frequency, the economic effects will be felt not only as the underlying assets are damaged or destroyed, but also as those experiences, and expectations of similar ones to come, are “priced in” to the judgments of what homes in floodplains, on the storm-exposed coasts, and in the wildland-urban interface are worth. Drawing on scholarship on economic valuation, racism and housing markets, and homeownership in American political economy and culture, I outline a sociology of property value that can help us to approach this matter analytically as it unfolds empirically. This approach allows us to better see how social actors will shape the climate-changed world by determining whether, how, and with what effects property values change. I illustrate these potential contributions through application to a court case in which the question of what, precisely, was happening to property value—and whether, by extension, proximity to the water is an amenity or a risk—was the primary point of contention. The implications open onto fundamental questions about the future of safe and secure housing in a climate-changed United States.