German homeowners lack necessary protection against flooding – survey

Many German homeowners are not well protected against heavy rain and flooding risks despite growing risks caused by climate change, while many believe their protection is sufficient, according to a survey commissioned by insurance company AXA. More than half (54%) of home owners in the survey conducted by pollster YouGov said the risks of climate-related damage were too small to justify investing in building renovation measures.

In 2025, insurance companies had to reimburse about three billion euros less for damages created by extreme weather compared to the year before. However, the German Insurance Association said that this was exceptional, and that the long-term trend indicates a clear increase in climate-related risks.

“We can’t let ourselves be deceived by the comparatively calm year of 2025,” AXA director of home insurances Marc Daniel Zimmerman said in a press release. “Extreme weather events remain a real risk, and they usually occur suddenly and unexpectedly for the people. Prevention determines whether heavy rain and high water become a manageable event, or have existential consequences.”

AXA said there is a gap between the actual risks and risk perceptions. About 40 percent of respondents said they felt “rather prepared” to “very prepared” against natural hazards, and approximately 47 percent of homeowners thought it was “rather unlikely” to “very unlikely” they would experience property damage as a result of high water and heavy rain in the next ten years.

This underestimation of the existing risks can also be seen in the protective measures homeowners have already taken, according to AXA. Only four percent owned a high water protection system, such as a protective mobile wall. About one third of respondents had a lockable basement window, and about 18 percent had backflow preventers installed, which block wastewater from flowing back into buildings through the sewerage system in high water situations.

“Still, we see too many houses, where water can flow into the basement almost unhindered,” Zimmerman said. “Prevention is no luxury, but a central protection for the value of houses, and because of that, for the people who live there.”

As global temperatures rise, extreme weather events become more frequent and more intense, requiring countries across the world to adapt. Climate change is driving a wide range of hazards, making extreme weather events to become more frequent and more severe. Persistent low levels of rainfall are becoming more common and when the rain does come, it is frequently in prolonged downpours, causing flooding. Prolonged heatwaves and fires are also becoming more intense and more common.