property insurance News

Florida’s 125% Surge in Property-Insurance Bills Sows Havoc

For Filicia Porter, the insurance bills were the final straw. They’d been climbing steeply for her assisted-living business as Florida was battered with ever more-powerful storms, and eventually, the numbers stopped adding up. So in March, she finally decided to …

Houston Windstorm Causes Preliminary Economic Loss of $5-7B: AccuWeather

The destructive windstorm that blew out windows in downtown Houston and left hundreds of thousands of southeast Texas residents without power caused upwards of $5-7 billion in total damage and economic loss, according to preliminary estimates by AccuWeather. Thousands of …

NICB: Contractor Fraud Costs U.S. Residents Billions Yearly

With 28 separate natural disaster events costing at least $1 billion and totaling more than $93 billion in catastrophe losses, 2023 was a historic year for billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the U.S. That’s a big enough figure. However, …

Florida’s Home Insurance Industry May Be Worse Than Anyone Realizes

Seven property insurers in Florida went bankrupt in 2021 and 2022. The bankruptcies left thousands of homeowners scrambling to get new coverage, which often came with a big increase in cost. Worse, many had outstanding claims for hurricane damage that …

Survey Shows Majority of Florida, California Homeowners Seeing Higher Insurance Costs

Few people in Florida and California will be surprises to hear that the majority of homeowners in those states have been affected by rising property insurance costs. A survey by Redfin, a U.S. real estate broker, found that just over …

Wildfires Are Upending Some of the Safest Bets on Wall Street

When the Texas Panhandle went up in flames this winter, the news spread fast on Wall Street. An electric utility by the name of Xcel Energy Inc. was getting blamed for the massive blaze — a lawsuit pointed the finger …

Europe’s Wildfires in 2023 Were Among Worst This Century: Report

The 2023 wildfire season in the Europe was among the worst this century, according to a European Commission report published on Wednesday. Last year, more than half a million (504,002) hectares, an area twice the size of Luxembourg, was scorched …

US Wildfires Are Getting Bigger and More Complex, Prompting Changes in Firefighting

It’s shaping up to be a long wildfire season, with Texas already seeing its largest blaze in recorded history and firefighters becoming overwhelmed with recent blazes in Virginia. Just in the first three months of the year, more than 2,669 …

California Lawmakers Introduce Disaster Resiliency Bill to Aid State’s Insurance Issues

California representatives Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) introduced the Disaster Resiliency and Coverage Act of 2024. H.R. 7849 would provide homeowners in disaster-prone regions with incentives to harden their properties against wildfires and other risks. The legislation is …

Taiwan Property Insurers Likely to Remain Profitable Despite Quake Losses: GlobalData

The 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Taiwan’s east coast on April 3 caused substantial damage, particularly in Hualien with collapsed buildings and infrastructure disruptions. However, insurers are expected to weather the financial impact well, according to GlobalData, the London-based data …