What are the schools like? Are there sidewalks? Is it safe for cyclists?
These are common questions you might ask if you're considering moving to a new neighborhood. But there's another question you've probably never considered: how's the air quality?
It sounds a little bizarre when said aloud, but climate risks, such as the number of poor air quality days, can impact where people want to live.
Earlier this year, brokerage platform Redfin started publishing air quality risk data for U.S. homes.
"I think that it could reaffirm some people who are already considering leaving a place with poor air quality. It can help show the risk in a more concrete way," said Redfin's chief economist Daryl Fairweather.
A home's air quality risk data is located under the climate tab on Redfin's website. You can use the same climate tab to check out the risk of wildfire, heat, wind, and flooding.
"Back in 2020, we first put flood factor on our website and our app," Fairweather said, "and we weren't sure if it was going to be something that users cared about."
It turns out— they did.
In one experiment, Fairweather explained half of Redfin users were given access to flood factor data. The other half was not.
"And we found that the people who did see it, did engage with it, engaged with it about as much as any other information on our website," Fairweather said.
Fairweather said affordability still trumps climate as the biggest consideration when buying a home, but Redfin is making these tools available so homebuyers have the information they need to understand climate risks.
Air quality risk data is available on Redfin.com and the Redfin iOS app. It will be available on Android later this year.
