National Survey of Consumer Interest in Resilience
Results from a survey of consumers to assess their perception of disaster risk and willingness to pay for more resilient construction.
Read surveyBuilding Resilience: Research
Building resilience and its value can be difficult to quantify. Building code requirements are generally based on protecting against natural disasters — wind, snow and earthquake events that may occur rarely or not at all during the life of a home.
Evidence suggests homes and multifamily buildings constructed to modern codes — defined as any edition of the International Residential Code® or International Building Code® — experience limited to no structural damage in hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and blizzards. Most damage occurs to roofing, siding and interior contents.
However, owners and tenants are often unwilling to pay for the higher construction costs incurred to provide the increased resilience represented by modern codes unless it is reflected in lower insurance rates, more favorable mortgage terms, tax credits for resilient construction, or other incentives.
Some academic studies have suggested resilient homes have a higher resale value. That may benefit a home owner down the road when they sell their home, but added value generally means added cost, which does not help the first-time or lower-income home buyer afford to purchase that home in the first place.
NAHB has created a centralized hub of the latest research on residential resilience exploring these issues:
NAHB Disaster Response and Recovery Toolkit
More resources and links for preparing for and responding to natural disasters in your community.
