Affordable Home Insurance Is Getting Very Hard to Find

According to a recent ValuePenguin study, homeowners are having a harder time finding affordable insurance due to the property insurance crisis spreading around the country. 

The report found that a shocking two-thirds of homeowners have seen premium increases in 2024. Another 25% of homeowners said they were dropped by their insurance company which is a major jump from the 19% that were dumped the year before. 

“The homeowners insurance market is under duress, and it’s creating real challenges for many homeowners,” said ValuePenguin insurance expert and licensed insurance agent Rob Bhatt in a recent Property Casualty 360 article.

“Home insurance is becoming harder to find in many parts of the country, including California, Texas and Florida,” Bhatt added in the Casualty 360 article. “Many companies have had to raise their rates to stay solvent. In some cases, they’ve stopped accepting new customers or pulled out of certain areas because they’ve been spending more to settle claims than they’ve been earning in premiums.”

A few other takeaways from the report:

The percentage of homeowner policyholders who are worried that their home will become uninsurable skyrocketed over the last year. A whopping 50% of homeowners are concerned which is almost double the 26% of homeowners who were worried in 2024.

Insurance rates are rising, the report found that 67% of respondents said their homeowners insurance rates went up in 2024. Of the homeowners who saw a rate increase, 38% said their rate increase was 10% or higher. 

Confidence that rates will be headed down are very low. A shocking 75% believe their rates will be headed up again this year with 44% claiming the cost of insurance is more difficult now than in prior years. In order to lower their premiums, 34% of policyholders downgraded or reduced their coverages. 

Policyholders are saving money by shopping their coverages with other insurers. The report found that 58% of policyholders shopped their coverage, and those that switched the average savings was $1,034 a year. 

The data also showed that 56% of respondents asked for a discount when talking with their insurers and the policyholders that received one saved an average of $781 a year. 

As insurance costs have increased, some homeowners are questioning the value of coverage. A surprising 24% of policyholders responded that home insurance is not worth the cost while 31% are considering self-insuring. 

“The changing dynamics of homeowners insurance are creating challenges for many households,” Bhatt said in the Property Casualty 360 article.

“Insurance companies have responded to large-scale natural disasters and inflation by raising rates in many parts of the country,” Bhatt continued in the Property Casualty 360 article. “Some have stopped accepting new customers in risky areas and are even dropping existing customers. This is making home insurance harder to get and more expensive.”