New report helps homebuyers look into the future to better prepare for extreme weather hazards

Dye & Durham’s leading Climate Report provides conveyancers and homebuyers with environmental risk insights up to 2080.

Following its market debut in April, Dye & Durham is celebrating the 1,000th order of its Climate Report, which helps conveyancing professionals inform homebuyers of the hazards arising from climate change — both today and until 2080.

The Climate Report aims to help conveyancers protect their clients’ interests by informing homebuyers about their exposure to climate-related hazards both now and well into the future.

The facts:
  •   Approximately 4,000 properties are at substantial risk from coastal erosion across Great Britain, expected to reach 23,000 in the next 80 years
  •   There will be an increase of over half a million properties at high exposure of soil subsidence between now and the 2080s
  •   The number of households at substantial risk of flooding in the U.K. is set to rise by 24% over the next 30 years
  •   36,000 U.K. properties will be exposed to extreme winds by 2070

Dye & Durham has been delivering climate-related modelling and intelligence to financial institutions and insurers since 2020 to help inform risk assessment and investment criteria. This includes helping residential property conveyancers and homebuyers assess the impacts of climate change, including flood risk, coastal and soil erosion, and extreme winds.

The development of the Climate Report has been led by Dye & Durham’s Head of Science, Dr. Tim Farewell, one of the U.K.’s leading academics on the interaction between geohazards and the built environment, and in collaboration with expert geologists, geospatial data experts and law firm customers. Tom Backhouse, Dye & Durham’s Director of Insight & Data, said:

“In conveyancing, there is a tendency to look backwards to determine risk levels. It’s time to start using insight and data to look forward.

If we can increase awareness of climate change and more people become engaged and understand how this is likely to affect their property in the future, then they can act accordingly.”

Dye & Durham’s new Climate Report is an industry leader, combining soil erosion data from the team’s award-winning National Ground Risk Model (NGRM), data from Bristol University’s flood experts, Fathom, plus wind climate projections sourced from UK CP18 (Met Office).

The data enables modelling for individual properties on flood exposure, coastal erosion, extreme wind, and soil subsidence that encompasses the next 60 years. The report covers both physical hazards and delves into how extreme climate conditions — like excessive high winds and torrential rainfall — will affect properties over time.

The report incorporates two emission scenarios, a Medium and High Emission Scenario. The Medium Emissions Scenario is equivalent to 2.4°C global warming by 2100s. The High Emissions Scenario is equivalent to 4.3°C global warming by 2100s. Information is presented in a visual report that’s easy to understand and can be passed directly onto the homebuyer. Backhouse continued:

“Just as mortgage lenders are looking at the impacts of climate change, forward-thinking conveyancers are now choosing to offer this intelligence to homebuyers, giving them hands-on access for their properties to the very insights that lenders are using to inform investment decisions.

As an organisation, we are committed to presenting best-in-class data in a clear, concise way for all parties involved in property transactions to enable homebuyers to make informed decisions not just in the short term, but for many years to come. By helping them understand their future exposure to the hazards posed by our changing climate, resilience to these growing threats can be increased.”