A New Jersey Star-Ledger editorial published Sunday (June 25, 2018) cites continued global warming predictions as a concern for the real estate market along the Jersey shore. “If you have just acquired a 30-year mortgage for a beachfront property in Lavallette, Long Beach, Little Egg Harbor or a few dozen other New Jersey towns,” it wrote, “that house is likely to be underwater by the time you pay it off.”
Its intended meaning was literal, and not just a reference to home value. “Your seaside citadel is likely to be uninhabitable by 2045 because many waterfront communities along New Jersey’s 130 miles of coastline will require that you wade from your driveway to your front door,” the newspaper opinion added.
It quoted a Union of Concerned Scientists’ study which “determined that accelerating sea-level rise – driven primarily by climate change – will put more than 62,000 residential properties in (New Jersey) at risk of chronic flooding over the next 30 years, a collective loss cost of $26.8 billion.”
Only Florida will face more destruction, according to the scientists’ group.
The editorial suggested Americans “respect the science” and take greater interest in United States’ participation in international climate control agreements.
“Adaptation and shore replenishment will always be necessary,” the editorial concluded. “But if we continue to make bad choices – in lifestyle, energy options, and at the ballot box – we cannot be surprised if New Jersey’s treasured coastal real estate market washes away in our time.”
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