Better Check Your Homeowners Insurance Policy, Echo Park and Silver Lake

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Homeowners in Los Angeles have the third-highest risk in the nation of losing their home to a natural disaster, according to a report released Thursday.

Only Oklahoma City and San Jose have homeowners more at risk than L.A. of a home loss due to earthquakes, floods, hail, hurricane storm surges, tornadoes and wildfires, according to Attom Data Solutions, a real estate research firm in Irvine.

Of 50 U.S. locales analyzed with a population of at least 500,000, those with the lowest overall natural hazard housing risk index were the cities of Philadelphia, Phoenix, Buffalo and Orlando and the New York City borough Brooklyn.

The report also found that homes in high-danger zones are in greater demand than those in low-danger zones, with median home prices in cities in the top 20 percent of risk having increased more than twice as fast over the past five years than median home prices in the bottom 20 percent with the lowest risk.

"Strong demand for homes in high-risk natural hazard areas has helped to accelerate price appreciation in those areas over the past decade despite the potential for devastating damage to homes that can be caused by a natural disaster, as evidenced by the recent hurricanes that made landfall in Texas and Florida," Attom Data Senior Vice President Daren Blomquist said..

"That strong demand is driven largely by economic fundamentals, primarily the presence of good-paying jobs, although the natural beauty that often comes hand-in-hand with high natural hazard risk in these areas is also attractive to many homebuyers," he said.

— CNS; Image via Shutterstock

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