HOUSINGNEWS REPORT
REAL ESTATE INSURANCE: FENDING OFF DISASTER IN A CHANGING WORLD
ANNUAL CHANGE IN HOUSTON METRO FORECLOSURE FILINGS
“Home insurers are constantly assessing how much risk they want to assume in disaster-prone areas. Issuing a non-renewal notice to a home insurance policyholder, however, is something an insurer does with great reluctance. The reason — the policyholder often has other policies with the insurer (e.g., auto, life) and may take all of their insurance business elsewhere.”
200%
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MICHAEL BARRY HEAD OF MEDIA AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS INSURANCE INFORMATION INSITUTE
-100%
Balsiger Insurance, told Insurance. com, “they could also elect to not insure any properties in an area prone to claims via natural disasters, such as coastal regions. This could include areas prone to tornadoes, flooding and hurricanes.” “As California wildfires grow larger and more intense,” reported the Los Angeles Times in August, “an increasing number of insurance companies are not renewing policies for customers who live in areas they deem too risky to cover. The state estimates that more than 1 million California homes are considered at high risk for wildfires.” According to the paper “a California Department of Insurance report found that the number of homeowners in the wildland-urban interface who complained about getting dropped by their plans more than tripled from 2010 to 2016. Complaints about increased premiums rose 217 percent.”
Not so fast, say the insurance companies. Dropping policies is not something to be done lightly. “Home insurers are constantly assessing how much risk they want to assume in disaster-prone areas,” said Michael Barry, Head of Media and Public Affairs for the Insurance Information Institute (the III) Barry told Housing News Report that “issuing a non-renewal notice to a home insurance policyholder, however, is something an insurer does with great reluctance. The reason — the policyholder often has other policies with the insurer (e.g., auto, life) and may take all of their insurance business elsewhere. Moreover, many states have either laws or regulations which limit the number of non-renewals a home insurer can issue in any given year.”
says “under all is the land” but increasingly that’s not quite true. In a growing number of markets what’s under homes is water, lots of it. Floods are a massive and burgeoning cost, an obvious problem for homeowners and local communities and a terrible tragedy for those who are lost. Rising waters are causing the entire concept of flood insurance to be re-thought. In 2017 Hurricane Harvey hit Texas and Louisiana, especially the Houston area. Risk Management Solutions (RMS) estimates that insured losses might amount to as much as $40 billion. That’s a big number, but what’s really big is the overall impact. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the storm produced $127.5 billion in total losses.
Flood Risk Hitting Home The National Association of Realtors
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OCT 2018 | ATTOM DATA SOLUTIONS
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