A trend is being observed by homeowners insurance customers who reside along coastlines across the country, which is making it more challenging for them to be able to keep their homes because it is becoming too expensive for many of them to afford the cost of coverage.
Within the last couple of decades rates have grown ever skyward for these coastal customers.
While many have tightened their belts and have managed to keep up with the ever increasing homeowners insurance rates, others have found themselves no longer capable of affording the expenses related to their homes and have been forced to move. In fifteen to twenty years, many are now paying five times what they once were.
This is not an easy process as the homeowners insurance rates are chasing potential home buyers away.
Property owners from Cape Cod, MA all the way to the most southern point of Texas have especially experienced sharp homeowners insurance rates increases over the last decade. Since 2003, the premiums being paid have been leaping ever upward, while at the same time forcing the policyholders to take on more of the risk with higher deductibles. This has been causing consumer outrage, particularly as they read reports that the profits of insurers in those coastal states are greater than they are for many of the inland states.
Across the country, from 2003 to 2010, the amount paid for homeowners insurance has risen by 36 percent. This is nearly double the rate of inflation. Among the 15 states in which the rates were the largest, 14 have coasts along the Atlantic Ocean or on the Gulf of Mexico. This, according to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). Each of those states saw increases of at least 44 percent during that period of time.
In Florida, the rates exploded by 91 percent, increasing the cost of homeowners insurance more quickly there than in any other state in the country. At the same time, the rates in Rhode Island rose by 62 percent.
