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Homeowner Insurance Rates: How Does Your State Compare?

1/22/2015 (Permalink)

Reprinted from PropertyCasualty360

NAIC 2012 annual homeowner insurance report shows it’s about location first.

The most important factor when buying real estate is location, and as you might expect, it’s a significant factor in establishing rates for homeowners insurance as well. What is the average premium for a house worth $300,000 in Georgia compared to one in neighboring Alabama or Florida? What’s the average nationwide?

Panelists at the Property/Casualty Insurance Joint Industry Forum 2015 on Jan. 13 acknowledged downward pressure on rates, especially for homeowner policies because they aren’t seeing much growth in new home sales. With that trend in mind, if you’re pricing policies and renewals in different locations, it’s helpful to know what the most recent data on the cost of homeowner policies shows.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) released its 2012 Homeowners Insurance Report on Jan. 20, providing detailed data on market distribution and the average cost by policy form and insurance amount of homeowners insurance across the U.S. The report provides countrywide and state-specific premium and exposure information for standard noncommercial dwelling fire insurance and for homeowner insurance package policies (HO-1, HO-2, HO-3, HO-5 and HO-8), tenant policy HO-4, and condominium/cooperative unit owner’s policy HO-6.

The 2012 report includes some interesting statistics:

  • In 2012, homeowner owner-occupied policy exposures accounted for 76.8% of overall exposures countrywide.
  • Tenant and condominium policy exposures accounted for 21.3% of the total, while dwelling fire exposure made up the remaining 1.9%.
  • Approximately 53.2% of policies sold in Washington, D.C. in 2012 were tenant or condo/co-op policies, reflecting the high level of urbanization.

    • Here are several key factors affecting the cost of insurance that also were identified in the report.

  • Geographic areas. Generally, the more densely populated the location, the higher the real estate values and construction costs. You’ll also find relatively higher real estate values in vacation and retirement areas.
  • Construction costs. The type of residence, the availability of building materials, local climate and building regulations all affect construction costs. Premiums also reflect higher expected repair costs for designs intended to reduce structural damages from earthquakes or hurricanes, for example.
  • Degree of exposure to catastrophe. Homeowners insurance premiums also are affected by the degree of exposure to catastrophes, for example, a waterfront property exposed to hurricanes or a mountaintop property exposed to brush and forest fires. According to the Property Claims Services unit of the Insurance Services Office, an event is a catastrophe if it results in insured losses that total $25 million or more.
  • Stricter building codes. After major catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina or Superstorm Sandy many state and local governments enact stricter building codes in an attempt to minimize damage and losses from future catastrophes.
  • Economic factors. Such economic factors as inflation increase the amount of insurance premiums over time. Interest rates and inflation can affect not only the value of the real estate and building but also the price of the insured contents.

    • These factors as well as others listed in the report can result in wide variations in premiums, not only by region or state, but on local levels as well. It pays to shop around, and consult your agent or broker for the best policy for your location.

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