About the California Natural Hazard Disclosure Study

This project is being conducted by the Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management at U.C. Berkeley and is funded by the California Policy Research Center, with assistance from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. It seeks to determine the following:

• Is the California Natural Hazard Disclosure Law being adhered to and implemented effectively?
• Is hazard disclosure having a negative effect on property markets is areas designated as natural hazard zones (that is, is there a differential in selling price between comparable properties in and out of hazard zones, and how did that differential change from before to after the passage of the law)?
• Do some communities or housing market segments experience more of a negative price effect due to hazard disclosure than others? Do these differences correlate with supply-demand, income, education, race, etc.?
• Is there a difference in how disclosure affects the price of vacant and developed property?

More information on this research, including methods, background, and preliminary results is available from the Project Research Web Site.

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