Answers to climate risk and housing getting closer

As a lot of capital is raised through the country’s banks, climate change it is probably the biggest risk because about 80% of wealth is tied to people’s homes.

Most Kiwis live close to the coast and 60% of bank assets are in domestic real estate.

Taking a materiality perspective it seems to be the biggest risk the country faces and while New Zealand does not have uninsurable pockets of property near coastal areas, it is not far away.

The risk of flooding has long been a fact of life in many coastal communities, but increasingly volatile conditions due to the changing climate may mean more serious, and more frequent, floods.