LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – Storm-battered Florida is weary after first taking a beating from Hurricane Helene and now residents are having to wonder how to rebuild after the damage left in the path of Hurricane Milton. The most important thing is loss of life was minimal as survivors pick up the pieces of debris left behind, but the cost to rebuild can be devastating.
Chris Schafer is a Senior Editor with Insurify, an American insurance comparison shopping website. Buying a home is probably one of the most significant purchases you will make in your lifetime. A purchase you want to protect. You’ve generally been able to do that with homeowners’ insurance, but with today’s changing landscape, it seems to get more difficult and more expensive literally every day.
“The home insurance market is much more turbulent than it has been in the past,” explained Schafer.
An Insurify data science team found home insurance premiums surged by 20% between 2021 and 2023. According to Insurify consumers should expect at least another 6% increase by the end of 2024 if they haven’t already seen it.
“We have seen more billion-dollar disasters,” explained Schafer. “We’re not expecting to see home insurance rates go down.”
In 2023 an unprecedented number of billion-dollar disasters left their mark across the map and families’ lives, according to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Severe storms, flooding, tornadoes, winter storms, wildfires, heat waves and drought- all tallying up a price tag for disaster and insurance premiums.
“We’ve seen a lot of insurers in Florida close up shop because they can’t do business and they can’t make it work,” said Schafer. “When they do have these billion-dollar payouts, hurricanes, wildfires, things like that, they don’t have the funds to reset it.”
According to Insurify, the most expensive states for home insurance in 2024 are Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi due to their vulnerability to hurricanes. Texas, Colorado, and Nebraska face a growing wildfire risk. Nebraska, Texas, and Kansas are at high risk for tornadoes, being located in an area nicknamed Tornado Alley. For older consumers, Making Ends Meet can be an even tougher struggle.
“The rate and the price of home insurance is far out pacing what seniors prepared for,” said Schafer. “Florida is actually now the average senior is paying 34% of their annual income into home insurance.”
Our world is changing and with it so are our insurance rates.
“It’s relatively new and it’s due to several factors,” stressed Schafer.
Schafer says the increase in natural disasters and the increase in cost after the pandemic for building material and labor all factor into the cost of your insurance premiums. What can you do about it?
Schaffer had a few suggestions:
- You do need to include this in your budgeting
- Compare home insurance rates
- Look at ways to reduce your home insurance risk by making home improvements. Storm resistant features, home security systems, all of these types of things can lower your insurance rates by making your home safer.
- Make sure you inform your insurance agent of all the improvements made on your home to get all the possible discounts to your home insurance policy
“We’re seeing now more than ever that the cost can be prohibitive and just letting your policy sit without looking at it is just not a viable solution anymore,” explained Schafer.
Schaffer stresses just because you’ve been with the same insurer forever doesn’t necessarily mean you’re paying the lowest rate. He suggests using a price comparison platform to compare quotes from top home insurance providers. Click here and here to see a few to try out.
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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.