Social outcomes of the housing market under climate change

Abstract

Climate change results in unequal social outcomes within housing markets. Here we use the Australian housing market data to examine the disparate social outcomes of the housing market under climate scenarios presented by the shared socio-economic pathways.

Our results suggest that even sustainable pathways with expected societal benefits exacerbate social inequalities by disproportionately imposing financial burdens on low-income households and tenants. Specifically, we demonstrate how intervention mechanisms, including insurance premiums, taxes, and mortgage rates, can counterproductively deepen social inequalities by increasing unaffordability and homelessness. These results call for contextually defined housing policies that support targeted intervention mechanisms for just housing outcomes in the face of climate change.