Background and Objectives
While various countermeasures are being implemented in response to frequently occurring flood disasters in recent years, residential buildings continue to be located in flood-prone areas with many people residing there. Given this situation, a survey was conducted to understand home buyers' awareness of flood risk to contribute to promoting further countermeasures.
Survey Overview
Survey of Home Buyers
- Target: Those who purchased detached houses in the past 10 years in recent flood disaster areas
- Method: Internet-based questionnaire survey
- Content: Flood risk recognition and countermeasures at the time of home purchase, residential location choices, etc.
Survey of Real Estate Businesses
- Independently compiled and analyzed results from a survey to members by the All Japan Real Estate Association received by the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management
- Organized the impact of flood risk on real estate transactions
Main Survey Results
Survey Results from Home Buyers
Analysis was conducted by categorizing respondents into those with disaster experience before purchasing their current homes and others.
Flood Risk Recognition
The group with disaster experience shows a stronger tendency (approximately 90%) to confirm flood risk through at least one method among hazard maps, past flood information, or other methods compared to the group without disaster experience. However, the group without disaster experience also shows relatively high flood risk recognition with about 76% confirming risks, indicating that recognition is relatively high regardless of disaster experience.
Flood Countermeasures
The group with disaster experience (approximately 80%) shows a stronger tendency to implement at least one measure among location consideration, structural building measures, evacuation route confirmation, or flood insurance reconfirmation compared to the group without disaster experience (approximately 50%).
Residential Location Selection
The group with disaster experience tends to consider more elements as residential environments for relocation destinations compared to the group without disaster experience, showing higher levels of emphasis on elements such as life support services, distance from relatives, and neighborhood communities.
Survey Results from Real Estate Businesses
It was confirmed that flood risk has a certain impact on real estate demand, and cases were observed where real estate transactions stagnate or occur at lower prices than usual in disaster areas.
Survey Significance
This survey revealed that the presence or absence of disaster experience significantly affects home buyers' awareness and behavior regarding flood risk. While there is a certain level of flood risk recognition even without disaster experience, differences exist in actual countermeasure implementation, providing important implications for future disaster prevention policy considerations.