Trillions of dollars’ worth of residential U.S. real estate is highly exposed to more frequent and severe extreme weather.
But diminishing federal support for disaster relief under the Trump administration is accelerating the risk that mortgage lenders, servicers and investors with loan portfolios in high-risk zip codes may not have a takeout after the next disaster. This includes the administration withholding funds for hard-hit areas, staffing cuts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and higher denial rates of disaster fund requests.
“If I’m an investor or have a portfolio in these areas, I’m going to be asking if it’s underwritten to the potential risks that these communities are facing, whether that’s in Florida or Souther...