As of this week, homeowners in Georgia now have access to Home Value Protection, which is the only insurance product available in the United States that will protect homeowners from the potentially financially crippling effect of the falling home prices.
This form of insurance coverage provides the owners of a home with protection for the market value of their home so that their equity is covered in the case that housing prices continue to fall – a serious issue within that state since the middle of 2006. This is the only insurance policy that makes sure that the home – which is generally a family’s largest financial asset – will be safe from cycles in the housing market.
The availability of this product has made Georgia the third state to offer it to its homeowners for the coverage of primary homeowner-occupied residences. It is being sold by the licensed insurance carrier, Home Value Insurance Company, which is regulated by the Georgia Department of Insurance.
According to the Home Value Insurance Company CEO, Scott Ryles, the largest housing market in the state, Atlanta, has been exceptionally hard-hit, and that according to the most current S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Indices, homeowners have now experienced 12.8 percent year-over-year declines in their home prices.
Ryles went on to explain that “This translates into a $24,766 average loss in home value.” He pointed out that homeowners have traditionally relied on a growing equity from their homes so that they would improve their financial wellbeing. However, the housing market has been changing that circumstance so that they have no longer been able to rely on their home equity to help with the funding of their future needs, regardless of what they are.
