Wildfires, Riots, and The Pandemic Destroys Not Just Homes But Its Value Too

While most of the U.S. houses are on-demand, demand for homes continues to decline in parts of California, Ohio, and Oregon. Home values located in these areas are critically low due to past wildfires and consequences related to the pandemic.

The wildfires that devastated Northern California in 2018 wreaked havoc on thousands of homes across the region. The plummeting home values came right after. 

Paradise, California has the biggest decline than any other area in the US. Just this year, home values dropped to a whopping 20.5% in October compared to last year. The drop is largely due to the record-breaking wildfires in 2018. 

This analysis is based on median home values in U.S. zip codes with more than 10,000 occupied housing units in October 2020. It would be helpful to note that this Redfin analysis is for home values only, not for sale prices.

The Camp Fire severely devastated the town two years ago. Fairweather added that most of the properties for sale right now are empty lots where homes used to be. The devastation caused by past fires and the looming threat of future wildfires is causing buyers to look elsewhere.

Pandemic & Its Repercussions

The pandemic halted the rebuilding of almost 140,000 homes that were lost in the fire in Paradise, California. The wildfire compounded with the effects of a pandemic has taken its toll on the home value depreciation. 

Sandusky, Ohio experienced the next-biggest drop due to the pandemic. Home values falling 9.3% year over year to $185,000 in October 2020.

Next comes downtown Portland, Oregon, where police officers and protestors have been clashing for the last several months. Home values there fell 7.5% year over year to $427,000 in October.

Civil Unrest

Nicole Arnold, a Redfin agent in Portland shared how she is seeing similar struggles in her area of Oregon. “Peaceful and violent protests have persisted in downtown Portland since the beginning of the summer, and they’ve been disruptive to people living in the area and driven home buyers to other parts of the city.