Utah may be a beautiful place to live, but soaring home insurance costs are driving would-be homebuyers out of the Beehive State.
What's happening?
A report from the Consumer Federation of America found that the average yearly insurance premium for a Utah homeowner has increased by almost $700 in the last three years alone.
That represents a price jump of 59% — the largest relative increase for any state, with the country as a whole seeing an average rate increase of 24%.
St George News quoted Sharon Cornelissen, director of housing for the federation, who pointed out, "Our insurance crisis is increasingly also a housing crisis. These are not separate."
"We know, for example, that first-time homebuyers already struggle to afford a mortgage today," she said, "and with spiking insurance costs, many may feel like they can never own a home."
Why are rising home insurance rates concerning?
Across the board, many of the rate hikes can be tied directly to one factor: a warming planet.
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Atmospheric temperatures are rising, driven by human-generated pollution. This has resulted in increasingly severe and frequent extreme weather events, including more intense wildfires, longer droughts, heavier flooding, and more powerful tropical storms.
Unfortunately, all of those weather patterns are majorly concerning to homeowners and their insurance providers.
But as Doug Heller, the federation's director of insurance, argued, this pattern has been growing for some time, and irresponsible choices by insurers have led the market to where it is today.
"The crisis is also a reflection of some brazen bullying we have seen from insurance companies around the country," Heller told St George News. "They put customers that have paid premiums for decades on the chopping block and turn their backs on communities that have relied on them for generations."
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Definitely 🙁 What options do homeowners have?
The report outlined several recommendations for insurance companies that could protect both homeowners and insurers alike.
These included having insurance companies release data on pricing, coverage, and claims, having both the federal and state government increase grants and loans for risk mitigation programs, and creating a reinsurance program — insurance for insurance companies — in order to stabilize the market.
They also advised that homeowners should shop around in order to secure the best rates, as well as work to protect their homes from weather-related damage. This could include clearing away dead brush and leaves to create a firebreak against wildfires, installing storm shutters, and strengthening a roof to prevent cyclone damage.
Meanwhile, would-be homeowners should consider living a safe distance from rising sea levels to protect against storm surges and flooding.
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