Many U.S. coastal properties could be lost to the ocean within 30 years. (Representative image)
David Muth, 59, an artist and interior designer, bought a three-bedroom house on Cape Cod for $395,000 (Rs. 3,315,3910). The house is just 25 feet from a crumbling cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. But Mr. Muth is not afraid of the situation, saying: “Life is too short to wait and not take advantage of it.”
The sale is one of a growing number of purchases by buyers snapping up bargain-priced beachfront homes threatened by rising sea levels and eroding coastlines due to climate change. The story has been covered by many major media houses as such homes become increasingly sought after despite the risks.
In accordance with Bloomberg, Muth purchased the home for 67% less than the seller's asking price of $1.195 million in 2022. Speaking about buying the home, which sits just 25 feet from a sandy hillside, Muth told the publication, “Life is too short, and I just said to myself, 'Let's just see what happens.'”
“Eventually it will fall into the ocean, and it may or may not happen in my lifetime,” he added.
The amount Muth paid for the Eastham home was 67% less than the seller's original asking price of $1.195 million in 2022. On Nantucket, an island retreat for the wealthy south of Cape Cod, a beachfront home at 28 Sheep Pond Road sold in June for just $200,000, about a tenth of its appraised value this year.
As ocean warming intensifies, storms become more frequent and sea levels rise, the ocean could swallow up more than $106 billion worth of U.S. coastal real estate in less than 30 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“The bottom line is that in 50 to 100 years, some communities will be underwater,” said Dylan McNamara, a professor of oceanography at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington who has studied coastal real estate markets for nearly two decades. Bloomberg. “It's just a matter of time before the value of these properties goes down. How they go down, whether it's a sharp fall off a cliff or a more gradual decline, is still unclear.”