Why your premium stays high: $171B in yearly disaster losses

Verisk raised its estimate of what insurers should expect to pay for catastrophes in an average year to roughly $171 billion globally, up about $19 billion from its previous figure and the highest the firm has published. The report also notes that insured catastrophe losses topped $100 billion for the sixth year running, even in a year with no U.S. hurricane landfall.

That last part is the one to sit with. Florida and Texas homeowners tend to read a quiet hurricane season as a signal that rates should drop. Carriers do not price your policy off last season. They price it off what they expect to pay over many years, and off what reinsurance costs them to cover the bad ones. Severe thunderstorms, hail, and inland flooding now add up to real money on their own. So a calm summer on the coast may not move your renewal much, and a wind mitigation inspection or a higher deductible will usually do more for your premium than waiting out the market.

If your renewal came in higher than you expected, that is worth a conversation rather than a shrug. An independent agent can re-shop your home policy across carriers and check whether you are getting every credit your roof and openings qualify for.