AndreyPopov
American International Group (NYSE:AIG), Allstate (NYSE:ALL) and other insurance companies are steering clear of home-insurance sales in certain parts of the U.S. that have become increasingly vulnerable to climate change, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
AIG (AIG), in particular, is planning on pulling back on home-insurance sales to customers in roughly 200 disaster-prone ZIP Codes across the U.S., the people told the WSJ. New York, Delaware, Florida and Colorado are among the impacted states.
State Farm and Allstate (ALL), two of the five biggest insurers in California, were said to curb homeowners’ policies in the state, citing soaring rebuilding costs induced by the post-pandemic inflation spike and supply-chain disruptions, in addition to natural disasters, chiefly wildfires, made worse by climate change.
The insurers’ move could discourage housing development in areas at high risk of floods, storms or wildfires, as homebuyers looking to finance the purchase of a home must lock in home insurance, Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather explained in a Twitter post. “So if more homes become uninsurable, they become nearly impossible to sell.”
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Alice J. Roden started working for Trending Insurance News at the end of 2021. Alice grew up in Salt Lake City, UT. A writer with a vast insurance industry background Alice has help with several of the biggest insurance companies. Before joining Trending Insurance News, Alice briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers home, renters and other property insurance stories.