Can I buy a house in New Zealand’s coastal erosion zone and high tide flood zone?
New Zealand is an island nation surrounded by the sea, affected by global warming, and some of the original “first-line sea view” mansions will be affected by rising sea levels in the next few decades or even decades. Whether these mansions are in areas of gentle coastal sands or on towering cliffs by the sea that are beautiful but can be eroded and collapsed, there is “no escape”.
So, are these original mansions of millions and millions worth buying?
The answer is no, if the “altitude” of the house you select is less than three meters, or the property you look for is less than ten meters away from the cliff boundary, these houses will most likely become “hot potatoes” in the future, and no one dares to take over.
This is because these houses may be affected by astronomical tides + sea level rises at any time, making the original “close to the sea” become “soaking in the sea”; Or although it is on a cliff more than ten meters or even tens of meters high, the foundation of the house may collapse in half at any time into the sea.
New Zealand’s insurance companies know these “high-risk” areas better than anyone, although these properties currently look worry-free, and each is expensive and the premium is attractive, but the insurance company can not do high-risk loss-making business, these houses, if transferred, the new owner is likely to have no insurance company to accept your property insurance. At the same time, if you are taking out a loan to buy these homes, then the bank will also be very cautious, refuse the loan, or seriously reduce the valuation of your house and will only lend you less.
So, how do you find out if your favorite property is a “problem” place in the future?
Basically judged from three aspects, first, look at the land assessment report; Second, look at whether the price of the house is quite low, much lower than the normal market situation; Third, take the address of the house to the insurance company to try to inquire, if the insurance company feels that there is a risk, it will not give an offer. As for the words of the real estate agent, it is seriously unbelievable, because as long as the sea water has not flooded the property, then the selling agent does not need to disclose any “flooding” risk (not illegal, not illegal), after a few years and more than ten years of flooding, there will be no real estate agent to stand up and take responsibility.