The Nationwide Home Insurance Crisis Is About Far More Than Monthly Premiums Skyrocketing

Homeowners have gotten used to hearing bad news about insurance premiums. But a new nationwide analysis suggests rising prices are only part of the problem.Home insurance is also getting harder to keep.A first-of-its-kind report from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) found that insurer-initiated nonrenewal rates increased between 96% and 216% from 2018 to 2024, depending on the region. In 2024 alone, insurers initiated more than 2 million nonrenewals nationwide.For homeowners, that raises a more unsettling possibility than another premium hike: What happens if your insurance company decides it no longer wants to cover your home?Home insurance is getting harder to keepThere’s no question insurance has gotten pricier. From 2018 to 2024, average inflation-adjusted premiums increased between 18.3% and 43.3% across the four regions analyzed by the NAIC. But over that same period, insurer-initiated nonrenewals rose much faster.The Southeast saw the biggest jump, with the nonrenewal rate climbing 216%. The Northeast was up 147%. And in the West, the rate more than tripled in just two years, from eight nonrenewals per 1,000 policies in 2022 to 25.1 in 2024.“A nonre...