For Floridians, buying home insurance has always been a challenge due to a turbulent market impacted by severe weather, but things may be improving somewhat, experts say.
What's happening?
Florida's hurricane season will be here in a matter of months, and if you're shopping for home insurance during that time, you might find yourself between a rock and a hard place.
The Sunshine State's home insurance market has always been pricey, but several years of particularly severe hurricanes, causing massive amounts of damage, have shot prices higher than ever before.
But due to several factors, including rate reductions, new state legislation, and the entry of new insurance providers to the market, things may be easing, Florida news site TCPalm reported recently. They quoted the March 2025 report from Insurance.com, which said that "the crisis appears to be easing."
That said, if you're shopping too close to an impending storm, it may be "virtually impossible" for you to find coverage. And if you do manage to secure an affordable housing policy, that policy likely won't cover flood damage. Considering that just one inch of water in the home could warrant $25,000 in repair costs, TCPalm pointed out, additional flood coverage is a must-have, burdening homeowners with even greater costs.
Why do home insurance rates matter?
Drastically increasing home insurance rates have plagued homeowners around the country, as weather of all kinds becomes more frequent and severe due to a warming planet.
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Our planet's changing climate has resulted in more severe hurricanes, heavier rainfalls, higher storm surges, longer droughts, and more. And as the storms get stronger, the damage gets worse, and therefore more expensive.
What can homeowners do?
Practically speaking, homeowners should be shopping around to ensure they're getting the most competitive market rates — and in Florida, in particular, they need to make sure they're locking in those rates outside of hurricane season. In terms of flood insurance, TCPalm points out that residents can apply for a FEMA loan for disaster assistance, though they point out that these loans need to be repaid.
Homes in disaster-prone areas can also try to avoid the worst of storm-related damage by enacting local disaster-prevention recommendations, from creating firebreaks to reinforcing storm surge barriers.
Broadly, though, the only way to drive down insurance prices in the long run is to halt the warming of the planet by reducing our pollution. The majority of this responsibility falls to governments to both enact and enforce regulations to achieve this; corporations also hold a weighty piece of the burden, as some of the biggest contributors of much of the planet-warming pollution.
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Definitely 👍 And as consumers and citizens, it's important to use your voice and your dollars to shape the world in which you want to live. When it comes down to personal lifestyle habits, changes like upgrading to home solar panels or heat pumps can both slash energy bills and dramatically reduce your home's carbon footprint.
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