Flood zones: Insurance giant warns against building new homes in danger areas

The housing issue

Real talk: where we build houses actually matters. Amanda Blanc, the boss of insurance giant Aviva, just dropped a major reality check. She says it "doesn't make sense" to keep building homes in flood-prone areas when we know the risks are only getting higher.

Here’s the tea: current building patterns suggest we’re on track to put 115,000 new homes in flood zones over the next decade. That’s a huge L. Research from Aviva shows that about one in nine homes built between 2022 and 2024 are already at medium to high risk of flooding. Looking ahead, nearly a third of new homes built this year could face some level of flooding by 2050 as extreme weather becomes the new normal.

Why it’s getting scary

It’s giving climate anxiety, but the science is clear. According to the Met Office, the record-breaking wet winters we saw in 2023–2024—which used to be once-in-a-generation events—are happening much more frequently now, potentially every 20 years.

Blanc told the BBC that England is actively building properties that could eventually become uninsurable. While she mentioned that you can retro-fit or build homes to be more resilient, it’s not a permanent fix. "It's very well known where these flooding areas are," she said. "Let's think very carefully about homes that are being built."

Beyond housing

In the same interview, Blanc also weighed in on the upcoming budget. She warned the government to stop "kite flying"—basically testing out policy ideas that spook the public. She pointed out that past speculation about pension changes caused a massive spike in people yanking their money out of pension pots, which is a major W for short-term panic but an L for long-term savings.

She also signaled that Aviva is ready to invest more capital into UK infrastructure—like hospitals, schools, and windfarms—if the government can provide clear, solid details on how they’re going to run things.

Why it matters

We’re currently sleepwalking into a situation where people are buying homes that insurance companies might refuse to cover in a few decades. If you’re looking at property, you might want to check the flood maps, because the climate reality is here and it’s hitting home hard.