A Super El Niño is brewing — what it could mean for housing

A powerful El Niño brewing in the Pacific could reshape housing market conditions across the U.S. this winter — exposing vulnerabilities in homes and testing the resolve of real estate agents, insurers, appraisers and buyers from California to the Gulf Coast.Howard Botts, chief scientist at Cotality, told HousingWire the coming pattern will not create risk so much as reveal it — and that even homes spared from direct damage may see their marketability and values tested.“We see El Niño events every two or three to seven years, so it’s not unprecedented that we see these,” Botts said. “But with sea level temperatures at record elevations, all the predictions are for a super El Niño event. We may remain really hyper focused on the West Coast, particularly California, because historically, El Niños shift the wind pattern south.“That means we have the jet stream flowing over the southern part of the U.S. and that typically means, for California, a significant increase in the atmospheric rivers coming off the Pacific.”Botts speaks from personal experience. He lives in the Pacific Palisades, below the Palisades wildfire burn scar, where storm preparations have become routine. “What I see ...