Starting next month, The Hartford will no longer write new homeowners insurance policies in the state, the insurer confirmed Thursday.
It becomes the seventh insurance company in the last year to either pull back coverage or depart California altogether.
Suzanne Barlyn, a spokesperson for the Hartford, Connecticut-based insurer, confirmed the decision through a company statement.
“The homeowners’ insurance environment in California has unique challenges that have required us to reconsider the viability of writing new homeowners’ business in the state,” according to the statement. “Based on these challenges and our analysis of the trends, we have decided to stop offering new homeowners policies starting Feb. 1, 2024.”
The insurer stated the decision does not impact its other products.
“(We) continue to write all our other existing products in California, such as business insurance and personal auto, and will continue to renew existing homeowners’ business consistent with our underwriting guidelines,” according to the statement.
The Hartford did not comment specifically on the impact to homeowners in the North Bay, but its homeowners’ insurance market share amounts to less than 1% in California, according to data from S&P Capital IQ, the research division of the S&P.
The Hartford is the sole home insurance provider for AARP members, which suggests the 55-plus demographic in California could be disproportionately affected by the insurer’s decision. A spokesperson for AARP referred an inquiry back to The Hartford, which did not answer that question.
The Hartford’s retreat follows State Farm, Allstate, Farmers Insurance, USAA, Kemper and Beaverton, Oregon-based CSE Insurance Group. In less than a year, all seven insurers have announced either a reduction in coverage or exodus from the state, as previously reported.
California’s Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara in September announced the Sustainability Insurance Strategy, described as the largest insurance reform in the state in 35 years.
According to the announcement, the plan aims at improving insurance choices and “protecting Californians from increasing climate threats while addressing the long-term sustainability of the nation’s largest insurance market.”
The Hartford did not explicitly state its decision was based on years of major wildfires, floods or other climate-related threats in California, but its statement implied as much.
“We do not enter into this decision lightly, and we appreciate and support efforts like Commissioner Lara’s Sustainability Insurance Strategy to help bring stability to the market,” according to the statement. “We will be watching those efforts closely.”
Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.