RealtyTrac Releases Its First Natural Disaster Housing Risk Report - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - RealtyTrac, a leading source for comprehensive housing data, Thursday released its first-ever Natural Disaster Housing Risk Report, which assigns a natural disaster risk score to more than 3,000 county housing markets nationwide.

Scores assigned to each county's housing market were based on risk data for three natural disaster events -- hurricanes, tornados and earthquakes -- and each county was assigned to one of five risk categories based on their score - Very High Risk, High Risk, Medium Risk, Low Risk, and Very Low Risk.

Of the 3,138 U.S. counties analyzed in the report, 373 were classified as Very High Risk, representing 12 percent of all counties. The total number of housing units in those counties was 10.6 million, 8 percent of total U.S. housing units.

Meanwhile, 271 counties fell into the Very Low Risk category, representing 3.9 million housing units -- 3 percent of total U.S. housing units.

The biggest percentage of counties and housing units fell into the High Risk Category - 1,118 counties with a combined housing unit total of 61 million, 47 percent of total U.S. housing units.

There were 511 counties in the Medium Risk category, representing 29.9 million housing units, and 865 counties in the Low Risk category, representing 25.5 million housing units.

"The potential risk of a natural disaster may not be the first item on most homebuyer checklists for a dream home, but prudent buyers will certainly take this into consideration along with myriad other factors that could affect home value," said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.