Wildfire Risk and Housing Prices: A Case Study from Colorado Springs

Geoffrey H. Donovan, Patricia A. Champ and David T. Butry

Abstract

In 2000, concerned about the risks of wildfires to local homes, the Colorado Springs Fire Department rated the wildfire risk of 35,000 housing parcels within the wildland-urban interface and made its findings available online. We examine the effectiveness of this rating project by comparing the relationship between home price and wildfire risk before and after the information was posted on the Web site. Before the information was available, home price and wildfire risk were positively correlated, whereas, afterwards, they were not. (JEL R26, Q51)

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