Even if you are located far from the devastating wildfires ravaging greater Los Angeles, it’s crucial to prepare for potential increases in homeowners insurance premiums when your policy is due for renewal. The repercussions of these catastrophic events extend beyond the immediate area, impacting homeowners nationwide and triggering significant changes in the insurance landscape.
“Homeowners outside California should not assume their circumstances regarding homeowners insurance are unaffected,” warns Cathy Seifert, a senior vice president and equity analyst at CFRA Research. She emphasizes that aspects such as pricing, coverage adequacy, and even policy availability could face significant adverse effects.
While the loss of property is heartbreaking, especially when it involves lives and livelihoods, the economic ramifications of the recent wildfires are poised to be monumental. Thousands of homes have already been lost, and with multiple fires still raging, damage projections are rapidly escalating. On Thursday, J.P. Morgan revised its estimate of total economic losses to nearly $50 billion, a figure that is more than double its previous calculation.
Analysts have indicated that insured losses could exceed $20 billion, and this number may rise further if the wildfires persist. The ongoing situation underscores a growing crisis in the homeowners insurance market, which is struggling to cope with the economic fallout of such catastrophic events.
Understanding the Crisis: The Dysfunction of the Homeowners Insurance Market
The scale of destruction in one of the United States’ priciest real estate markets will create substantial hurdles for insurers when it comes to rebuilding or compensating homeowners. Although California homeowners will undoubtedly see their premiums rise in the future, the vastness of this disaster indicates that homeowners all across the nation will also experience financial repercussions.
Homeowners insurance operates under state regulations, yet large insurance companies maintain a national presence. Every state enforces specific rules regarding how and to what extent insurers can adjust their rates. This regulatory framework plays a significant role in how insurance markets respond to catastrophic events.
California, known for its robust consumer protections, has historically enforced stringent regulations. These regulations have helped keep insurance costs manageable for homeowners; however, they have also resulted in many insurers exiting the state. Since 2022, seven of the twelve largest insurance providers have either ceased writing policies or dropped existing customers in California, leading to a concerning trend in the availability of coverage.
The number of homeowners seeking coverage through California’s FAIR Plan, the state’s last-resort insurer, has surged dramatically. In affluent Pacific Palisades, which has experienced severe wildfire damage, the number of FAIR policies increased by approximately 85% from 2023 to 2024, highlighting the urgency of the situation for many homeowners.
These wildfires could represent a tipping point for the insurance industry.
“This transformed an urgent issue into a full-blown crisis,” Seifert states.
While various natural disasters have historically led to insurance rate hikes, the financial impact on insurers has become increasingly severe, with rising wildfire incidents serving as a primary factor. Although disasters like hurricanes can also be devastating, insurers often fare better because typical homeowners policies exclude flood damage, thus mitigating their losses.
As of January 1, California’s insurance regulators granted insurers the ability to utilize catastrophe modeling forecasts to price their policies for the first time. Previously, insurers were required to base their rates solely on historical data. This change is an attempt to attract insurers back to the state, although the trade-off stipulates that companies must continue to provide coverage in areas prone to wildfires.
Employing forecasts is a standard practice in many other states. Given the increasing severity and costs associated with natural disasters—and the expectation that climate change will exacerbate these trends—insurers argue that relying solely on historical data fails to accurately reflect future risks.
In essence, California homeowners were already bracing for steep premium increases even before witnessing the devastation of some of the nation’s most valuable real estate.
“California constitutes a significant portion of our national economy—it’s detrimental for the entire country to face such a high level of dysfunction within this economic base,” Seifert cautions. “The challenges faced by California cannot be disregarded by the rest of the nation.”
The Ripple Effect: How California’s Insurance Crisis Affects Homeowners Nationwide
Your geographical location plays a role in insurance pricing, but perhaps not in the way you might anticipate. In fact, your insurance premiums could be indirectly subsidizing homeowners in other states. A 2022 study by Harvard Business School revealed that when insurers are restricted from raising rates sufficiently following significant losses, they compensate by increasing policy premiums in states with less stringent regulations, a phenomenon researchers label as “cross-subsidizing.”
“The financial burden is distributed unevenly across the nation, where some individuals are shouldering disproportionately higher costs,” reports Ishita Sen, a Harvard finance professor and co-author of the study, in a recent Wall Street Journal article.
Research indicates that in the years following a major disaster, premiums can surge by as much as 6.5 percentage points more in states with lax regulations compared to their counterparts with stricter regulatory environments.
On Thursday, California insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara announced a temporary one-year prohibition on insurance companies canceling policies or failing to renew them for customers in the most heavily fire-affected zip codes. Furthermore, during a press conference, Lara urged insurers to pause any pending cancellations or non-renewals issued between October 9 and January 7, coinciding with the onset of the current wildfire crisis.
While this action may provide a temporary reprieve for California homeowners in the wake of the wildfires, they will inevitably face increased homeowners insurance costs in the long run, and they may also encounter diminished coverage options.
Nationally, in addition to rising premiums, Seifert anticipates that insurers will seek innovative strategies to alleviate the financial burden on homeowners. Coverage typically included in a “standard” homeowners insurance policy could shrink; for instance, policies may cover only the cost to rebuild the structure, excluding replacement costs for personal belongings—such as appliances, furniture, and electronics—lost in a fire.
“Homeowners will need to reassess and become more vigilant regarding their coverage details in their homeowners policy,” Seifert advises. “Certain homeowners in various states might find themselves facing significant gaps in coverage, which could jeopardize their financial stability.”
And those homeowners may count themselves fortunate compared to others. An increasing number of experts are expressing the once-unthinkable notion that some regions may become uninsurable, regardless of price.
“We are heading toward a future where insurance might no longer be available or affordable,” warns Dave Jones, director of the Climate Risk Initiative at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Law, in a statement to the Washington Post.
This presents a chilling reality for homeowners across the nation.
Stay Informed: Essential Resources for Homeowners Facing Insurance Challenges
Climate Change Just Caused the Biggest Home Insurer in This State to Stop Accepting Applications
How to Help California Wildfire Victims — Without Getting Scammed
What Is Flood Insurance and How Does It Work?