Wealthy beach lovers left devastated as they're forced to slash price of luxury seaside homes by MILLIONS: 'It's unbelievable'

Wealthy beach lovers are left devastated as they're forced to slash prices of their luxury seaside homes by millions due to climate change.

Climate experts believe the rise in sea levels and unforgiving storms, intense rainfall and coastal flooding and erosion are the culprits putting homeowners in a precarious position - and the unpredictability of it all.

The areas with some of the priciest real estate that have been hit the hardest include, Dana Point, California, to Long Island, New York, and Nantucket, Massachusetts, CNBC reported.

In September, a beach front home on Nantucket that listed for $2.3 million, fell to a staggering $600,000 after their shoreline lost 70 feet to erosion. The owner, Lynn Tidgewell said, 'this rate of erosion was not typical,' and 'dropped the price significantly in the knowledge that any prospective buyer was taking a risk.'

Tidgewell said she purchased the Nantucket property on Sheep Pond Road in 2021 for $1.65 million, as town records confirm. 

At the time, the property was more than a 100 feet from the top of a coastal bank, and a geological study estimated the home would last at least two decades, if not more, at the current rate of erosion.

She said she 'took the gamble due to the magnificent beauty of the location,' but after two years started to notice the land near her house started to disappear, claiming approximately 15 feet of her backyard.

In the few years she lived there, she said her home was impacted by other storms including Hurricane Lee that took another 20 feet in September, and a staggering 70 feet was swallowed up between then and December, the news outlet reported.

Brendan Maddigan, who acquired the property in February, took advantage of the price drop but went in knowing the risks.

He told The Boston Globe: 'I like to think that it'll be there for a while, but I was definitely aware of the risk of any particular storm causing a problem in the future.'

This year's hurricane season has started with forecasters predicting 'above-normal' activity.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts up to 13 hurricanes, with four to seven categorized as 'major' storm for this year's hurricane season.

Leah Hill, Nantucket's climate resilience coordinator, said some boundary lines on the island are now fully underwater.

She told the news outlet that f the town fails to reduce coastal risks from now through 2070, nearly 2,400 structures are at risk from coastal flooding and erosion, with annual damages estimated at $3.4 billion.

A coastal resilience plan developed by Nantucket, which helps educate homeowners on ways to protect their property, was created based on the findings that Hill pointed out. 

According to the plan, sea levels have risen eight inches between 1965 and 2019 on Nantucket

Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard have among the highest rates of beach erosion statewide, according to the Trustees of Reservations State of the Coast 2021 report.

The report also cited parts of the south coast of Nantucket have receded as much as 1,800 feet since the 1800s. 

In Montauk, the east end of Long Island, a series of storms battered the area and the multi-million dollar homes in the seaside town, than ever before.

'Where we've seen flooding in the past and the water subsiding right away, it's not subsiding anymore,' said Kay Tyler, executive director of Concerned Citizens of Montauk. 

'We have a friend that has a $10 million home, and he's not even sure what to do with it because if he sells it it's never going to be the $10 million he bought it for.'

Some homeowners on Nantucket are looking for property tax relief, as the property values of their drops due to matters they cannot control. 

Some are consulting with legal experts to have their homes reassessed.

'I think we just put our heads in the sand,' said attorney Chris Farley. 'Values weren't going down until the last 10 years and it's still been kind of quiet reduction.'

Farley pointed to one property, which he said had an assessment of $2.2 million. 

Though he noted that it has not been assessed recently, but  two others homes on the same street and seaside cliff have been reassessed — one for $500,000 and one for $250,000. 

He explained that the cliff the homes are one are eroding badly.

He estimated that  '12-15 feet of sand is gone,' and noted that there was a 'huge exposed geo tubes underneath the cliff' that should be covered in sand.  

“They used to be able to walk down these steps right out and there was another stairway, it’s gone,' Farley said. 'So they have no more access.'

Referring to the home that has not yet been reassessed, he added: 'To me that affects the value of the property when you can’t even use the waterfront that you bought to be on.'