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Comment by mschuster91 | Hacker News Reader

> I wonder why the insurance and real estate markets are not responding at all to all ocean-front property soon becoming worthless?

Insurances are already reacting. Just a few days ago there was an article showing how home insurances are cancelling contracts based on drone and other aerial surveillance, yeeting people for the horror of having a trampoline in their garden. And beyond that, insurance companies are pulling out of risky markets... and of course, people are crying foul and want the government to bail them out [1].

Edit: Seems like you've been downvoted to grey - I don't get why, because (other than not being aware about recent developments in insurance markets) you are raising a legitimate question.

[1] https://eu.palmbeachpost.com/story/opinion/columns/2024/03/1...

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They asked a rhetorical question to frame an apparently misinformed opinion as if it were fact. It's interesting for discussion, but also likely to attract some ire, particularly since it's unpopular, flies in the face of what we think we know, and unsubstantiated.

The oceanfront properties will only become worthless when the land directly beneath them is submerged because the people who own those properties can enjoy them just fine with or without insurance coverage.

Yeah they can enjoy these properties even if they do not have insurance any more... but then they want for government to bail them out on the next storm/flood/fire/whatever, and that just won't scale much longer.

> The oceanfront properties will only become worthless when the land directly beneath them is submerged because the people who own those properties can enjoy them just fine with or without insurance coverage.

Part of the value of real estate is the short term use of that real estate.

Part of the value is the resale value.

If anthropogenic climate change is really causing sea levels to rise, then the predicted future resale value of oceanfront property must be near zero, which must be causing prices to drop sharply.

Except the prices are not dropping.

Markets predict reality better than most predictors.

> Insurances are already reacting. Just a few days ago there was an article showing how home insurances are cancelling contracts based on drone and other aerial surveillance, yeeting people for the horror of having a trampoline in their garden.

If anthropogenic climate change is real, then the insurance on oceanfront properties would be cancelled. That is not happening.

A trampoline leads to neighbors' kids jumping on it and breaking legs, which leads to lawsuits, which lead to losses for insurance companies.

Trampolines are a good reason to cancel homeowners insurance.

THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CLIMATE CHANGE.

Revoking a building's insurance against fire, flood or storm for the presence of an unauthorized trampoline is nuts. The trampoline in the garden has zero effect on the likelihood of a fire occurring.

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