Homeowners insurance rates are still on the rise in California
A new study from LendingTree confirms what many in Kern County feel annually; homeowners insurance rates are rising. A study from LendingTree has revealed that California homeowners insurance rates are increasing, with a 48.40% increase from 2019 to 2024, the 8th biggest increase overall in the U.S. California currently sits 54.80% below the national average for home insurance costs. Insurance companies including Allstate and State Farm have withdrawn from the state's homeowners insurance business due to rising rates. Lendingtree insurance analyst Rob Bhatt attributed the increase to more severe climate disasters such as Iowa and Texas. Allstate has indicated it would begin reissuing policies in California if the state insurance commission allows it to use catastrophic modeling. Attorney H. Dennis Beaver believes insurance companies are exploiting legal extortion by increasing rates.
Publicados : 10 meses atrás por William Silverstein, http://www.facebook.com/pages/eyewitness-news-bakersfieldnow/91093559934 no Finance Environment
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. --- (KBAK/FOX58) A new study from LendingTree confirms what many in Kern County feel annually; homeowners insurance rates are rising.
oHome insurance is up 48.40% in California from 2019 to 2024, 8th biggest increase overall in the U.S.
oCalifornia sits 54.80% below the national average for home insurance costs.
oHome insurance for California in 2024 costs $1,121 on average.
oHome insurance costs have increased 8.80% in 2024 alone.
That was not a surprise to attorney H. Dennis Beaver who says insurance companies have had to raise rates to keep up with natural disasters.
"Insurance is like any business, you have got to make a profit," Beaver said. "The cost to insurance companies has been astronomical."
Which is why insurance giants including Allstate and State Farm have pulled out of the homeowners insurance business in the state. LendingTree insurance analyst Rob Bhatt says California and the country are witnessing more 'billion dollar disasters'.
"We are seeing more of these severe climate disasters," Bhatt said. "Sometimes they call them a 'billion dollar disaster' and we are seeing more of these 'billion dollar disasters' occur."
Other examples Bhatt gave were the recent storms in Iowa and Texas as well as Florida's tropical storms. Bhatt noted people who live beautiful yet high risk areas know what they are getting themselves in for for homeowners insurance.
"You are out in nature and these are beautiful places to live but there is also a fire risk," Bhatt said. "People in California fall into either a high risk area or a high value home; or both of those things and that is where you see your rates go up."
Allstate has indicated it would begin reissuing policies in California if the state insurance commission would allow the company to utilize catastrophic modeling. Catastrophic modeling is knocked by Beaver for its lack of transparency.
"A number of factors go into a big black box that is highly secretive and it generates rates, figures that they feel they have to make," Beaver said. "Weather patterns, the cost of rebuilding, material costs, inflation, a lot of factors go into it. These are generally legitimate factors. But how the secret sauce is being developed and applied, that is what they do not want revealed."
Likely because the companies will charge at higher rates. Beaver says the insurance giants are left with no choice.
"What the insurance companies are doing is saying 'this is extortion, legal extortion,'" Beaver said. "You want us to issue policies? We will. But you have got to let us increase rates and we are not necessarily going to show you exactly how we are doing it."
Beaver says the best thing you can do is make sure you are not under-insured. To read the full LendingTree study, click here.
Tópicos: Insurance, Environment-ESG