Urban environments that are created through property development activity will strongly shape the future capacity of urban areas to respond and adapt to climate change impacts. Urban environments are especially exposed to climate change due to a range of geographic and social factors. Further, in itself, Real estate development in Australia is also a significant contributor to climate change. However, it is a high risk, entrepreneurial industry, and climate change is just one of many risks faced by developers. It is also an extremely diverse industry, with correspondingly different attitudes to the risks posed by climate change. This research used a combination of a questionnaire survey, semi-structured interviews and focus groups to investigate the capacity of the urban property development industry to adapt to climate change. It found that attitudes and understanding of climate change varied widely. Many developers viewed climate change as low risk, because of the perception that it would only manifest as sea level rises in the distant future. In addition, although commercial and retail developers indicated that a strong market demand existed for "green" buildings, this was not the case for residential development. Therefore, a marked communications gap exists on the definition of climate change, and the degree of risk it poses to the built environment. Measures aimed at improving the communication of climate change, and the risks it poses; as well as policies to market climate adaptive measures to the residential sector, may have major benefit for future urban sustainability.