In a new episode of The Valuation Metric, Sara Gutterman examines how a changing fire landscape is exposing the limits of price per square foot—and why resilience needs to be measured differently.
Wildfire risk is changing, but the way we value homes has yet to catch up. In this episode of The Valuation Metric, Green Builder Media CEO Sara Gutterman explores what historian Stephen Pyne calls the “Pyrocene,” an era shaped by both the disruption of natural fire cycles and the conditions that make fires more intense.
The consequences reach beyond the landscape. Fire risk affects insurance availability and premiums, rebuilding costs, lending decisions and where people can safely live. Yet many of the tools used to price and finance homes still rely on comparisons drawn from a climate that no longer exists.
Gutterman argues that insurance companies are already pricing risk, while the housing market continues to rely heavily on price per square foot. She asks what could change if homes were measured by more than their size and finishes—if their resilience, performance and ability to protect people and communities counted in their value.
The episode also looks at reasons for hope, from better fire management and renewed prescribed burning to clean-energy investment and fire-resistant building standards. The challenge ahead is to make resilience measurable in ways builders, appraisers, lenders, insurers and buyers can use.
Cati O’Keefe is the editorial director of Green Builder Media. She has 25 years of experience reporting and writing on all aspects of residential housing, building and energy codes, green building, and sustainability.
When Fire Risk Reaches the Housing Market
In a new episode of The Valuation Metric, Sara Gutterman examines how a changing fire landscape is exposing the limits of price per square foot—and why resilience needs to be measured differently.
Wildfire risk is changing, but the way we value homes has yet to catch up. In this episode of The Valuation Metric, Green Builder Media CEO Sara Gutterman explores what historian Stephen Pyne calls the “Pyrocene,” an era shaped by both the disruption of natural fire cycles and the conditions that make fires more intense.
The consequences reach beyond the landscape. Fire risk affects insurance availability and premiums, rebuilding costs, lending decisions and where people can safely live. Yet many of the tools used to price and finance homes still rely on comparisons drawn from a climate that no longer exists.
Gutterman argues that insurance companies are already pricing risk, while the housing market continues to rely heavily on price per square foot. She asks what could change if homes were measured by more than their size and finishes—if their resilience, performance and ability to protect people and communities counted in their value.
The episode also looks at reasons for hope, from better fire management and renewed prescribed burning to clean-energy investment and fire-resistant building standards. The challenge ahead is to make resilience measurable in ways builders, appraisers, lenders, insurers and buyers can use.
Watch or listen to the latest episode of The Valuation Metric to hear why measuring what a home protects may matter as much as measuring what it costs.
By Cati O'Keefe
Cati O’Keefe is the editorial director of Green Builder Media. She has 25 years of experience reporting and writing on all aspects of residential housing, building and energy codes, green building, and sustainability.