[IMGCAP(1)]

IRVINE, CA—The highest prevalence of manmade environmental hazards is present in parts of St. Louis, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Northern New Jersey and Denver, according to a report from RealtyTrac. The report ranked all US counties based on the prevalence of manmade environmental hazards as tracked by the firm's Homefacts subsidiary.

The report evaluates five manmade environmental hazards, including percentage of bad air-quality days, as well as the number of superfund sites, brownfield, polluters and former drug labs per square mile. An aggregate score based on these five factors was created for each county, with a higher score representing a higher prevalence of manmade environmental hazards. The report also included real estate trends—median home value; one-year, five-year and 10-year home-price appreciation—along with unemployment rates and median household incomes in each county housing market.

“Somewhat surprisingly, short-term home-price appreciation over the past year and five years is stronger in the 50 housing markets with the highest prevalence of manmade hazards,” says Daren Blomquist, VP of RealtyTrac. “However, the 50 housing markets with the lowest prevalence of manmade hazards have higher median home values and much stronger long-term home-price appreciation over the last 10 years along with lower unemployment rates and slightly higher median incomes.”

Blomquist adds that what is less surprising is that the most hazard-prevalent housing markets are much more populated than the least hazard-prevalent housing markets. “However, this report demonstrates that prospective homebuyers don't have to sacrifice potential environmental safety concerns to buy in a market with ample jobs that are relatively well paying—and where prices home have steadily appreciated over the long term.”

Blomquist also points out that not all of these environmental hazards are creative equal, ranging widely in scope and severity. “While individuals and institutions should certainly take this hazard data into account when making real estate decisions about a specific property or market, they should dig into the details for each local hazard to make the most-informed decision.”

As GlobeSt.com reported in July, Homefacts launched a new mobile app for iPhone that enables homebuyers, homeowners and renters to view detailed property and neighborhood information and statistics on more than 100 million US homes. The new app enables navigation of neighborhood data based on user location and allows users to find information on any of these properties using the address, city and zip search tool. Among that data is information on more than 30 key local and neighborhood dynamics for residential properties nationwide including the location and details of environmental hazards.

[IMGCAP(2)]

[IMGCAP(3)]