Home Insurance Nonrenewals Jump Up to 216% as Premiums Climb

The insurance squeeze moves to renewal

Homeowners used to think of insurance as a fixed bill that crept up each year. The latest national data make that view hard to keep. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has published its first national analysis of homeowners insurance, based on seven years of state reporting. It found that insurer-initiated nonrenewals rose between 96% and 216% from 2018 to 2024, depending on the region.2 Over the same period, the average premium per policy rose in every region, by 18.3% to 43.3% after adjusting for inflation.2 The West had the largest increase at 43%, followed by the Southeast at 27%, the Midwest at 25% and the Northeast at 18%.3

The regulators summarized it in one line: in some places, homeowners insurance is getting more expensive and harder to keep.7 That sentence explains why this story has spread beyond the insurance trade press. Insurify's analysis of the same data reports that insurers dropped about 2 million policies while premiums and profits went up. Higher prices and stricter underwriting helped carriers return to profitability after several bad years.7 The industry is financially healthy again. Many of its customers are paying much more, and some cannot find a company willing to renew them.7

Insurance is only one of the rising costs of owning a home. Electricity, some heating fuels and the cost of repairs are all climbing at the same time, while federal programs meant to cushion energy costs are being cut back or running out of money.

Where premiums are rising fastest

National averages hide very different conditions from state to state, and the data providers do not agree on the numbers. Insurance.com puts the 2026 national average premium at $2,872 for a standard policy with $300,000 of dwelling coverage.5 Coverage Cat cites a U.S. average of $3,057.1 HousingWire notes that S&P Global Market Intelligence shows only a 1.8% rate change through July 2026. The NAIC's regional figures look far worse.3 These numbers measure different things. Rate filings show what insurers ask regulators to approve. The NAIC figures show what policyholders actually paid over several years, including people forced into more expensive coverage after losing a policy.

The states with the highest premiums are not always the ones where premiums are rising fastest. Florida is still the most expensive state at about $8,471 a year. Insurance.com says that is nearly three times the national average, and the state's increase was a relatively small 6.8%.5 Massachusetts had the steepest rise, up 42.9% from $1,478 to $2,112. Nebraska had the largest dollar increase, $960, which brought its average to $5,513.5 Minnesota, New Mexico and Maryland also saw double-digit increases.8

Insurify's county-level data for the first half of 2026 show the pressure spreading across the country. Almost 1,900 counties saw higher costs, and more than 130 had double-digit increases.4 Premiums in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana rose 33% in six months to an average of $8,615.4 Several rural Minnesota counties gained more than 20%.4 California's statewide increase looks small in that data at 5%.4 However, Coverage Cat expects California rates to rise 16% by the end of 2026, and the state's FAIR Plan has asked for a 35.8% increase.1

Policy changes are part of the cause

Weather is the obvious cause of these increases. The coverage also points to legislative changes that make losing a policy more costly. Under a 2024 Minnesota law, insurers can decline to renew a policy after three or more weather-related losses of more than $10,000 each. Minnesota also changed a rule that had stopped insurers from charging different premiums by ZIP code in smaller towns.4 Louisiana adopted a similar rating approach and removed protections for long-held policies.4 When a cheap legacy policy is dropped and replaced with an expensive new one, the data record it as a large premium increase.4

Florida shows the same pattern in a different form. The state has been moving policyholders out of Citizens, its state-backed insurer. Homeowners who receive a private offer within 20% of their Citizens premium can no longer stay with Citizens. As a result, many are likely paying more for new private policies.4

In California, a moratorium on nonrenewals protects homeowners in declared fire zones. Coverage Cat says insurers have responded by raising rates in every ZIP code.1 About 400,000 policies have been canceled there since 2021, and FAIR Plan enrollment rose 43% between September 2024 and December 2025.1

Texas has a law, in effect since January 2026, that requires insurers to disclose nonrenewal reasons by ZIP code. Broader rate-control legislation has not passed.6 Disclosure rules help homeowners see what is happening, but they do not create coverage where insurers do not want to offer it.

Higher repair costs feed into premiums

The repair and remodeling market is an important and underreported part of this story. Insurers price policies on what it would cost to rebuild a house. Coverage Cat lists construction cost inflation as a major cause of California's increases, citing a 44% rise over five years in Los Angeles.1

Tariffs are pushing those costs up across the country. Imported steel and aluminum face a 50% Section 232 tariff. Imported copper products, including pipe and wire, have faced a 50% tariff since August 2025.17 In August 2026, new 50% duties took effect on about $20 billion of Canadian goods, including plywood, engineered wood and Portland cement.11 Coverage disagrees on cabinets. Some outlets report a 25% tariff, with an increase to 50% delayed until January 2027.1317 A remodeling trade brief says the rate already rose to 50% in January 2026.19 Either way, the brief estimates the average kitchen remodel now costs $27,000 to $35,000.19

Homeowners are reacting to these costs. In a Clever Offers survey, half of homeowners said they need renovations now that they cannot afford. Fifty-eight percent said they have no savings set aside for emergency repairs.20 Nearly three in four said they are changing their plans, mostly by doing more of the work themselves or putting projects off.20

Delaying repairs has consequences for insurance too. The same survey found that 29% of homeowners had a repair they considered preventable because they put off maintenance.20 More claims can lead to a nonrenewal, especially under rules like Minnesota's.

The overall remodeling market is slowing down without shrinking. Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies projects spending will rise about 2.1% to $517 billion in the third quarter of 2026.11 A later summary of its forecast shows growth falling to about 0.5% by early 2027.19 Higher prices and weaker growth in spending together suggest homeowners are getting less work done for their money.

Electricity and heating add to the strain

Utility bills are rising alongside insurance. In July 2026, the average U.S. residential electricity price was 18.31 cents per kilowatt-hour, 4.9% higher than a year earlier. Prices rose fastest in Hawaii, New Hampshire and Maine.39 From the first seven months of 2020 to the same months of 2026, prices rose 39.5%, or about 8.6% after inflation.43 Federal data analyzed by NextMSC show residential prices growing much faster than residential electricity use. Customers are paying more per unit, not just using more power.44 One analysis attributes the increases to higher wholesale and capacity costs, transmission and distribution spending, and growing demand.40 The Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts about 18.2 cents for 2026 and 18.7 cents for 2027.40

Heating costs this winter will depend mostly on which fuel a household uses. The EIA expects homes heated mainly by natural gas or propane, about half of all households, to spend less than last winter. Homes heated by electricity or heating oil are expected to spend more.32 Spending is forecast to rise 21% to about $2,115 for oil-heated homes, which are concentrated in the Northeast. The EIA expects heating oil to average $5.26 a gallon, up 34%.33 Electric-heat households, more than 40% of homes, face an average increase of about 4%.36 Bills in the West could rise more, by roughly 9% for electric heat, because forecasters expect a colder winter there.38 The EIA also cautions that a historically strong El Niño could make actual temperatures differ widely from its forecast.38

Rebate programs are shrinking

In theory, federal rebates should help with these costs. A heat pump or better insulation can lower a household's energy bills. In practice, help is getting harder to get. The 25C federal tax credit for energy-efficient home improvements expired at the end of 2025 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.21 That leaves the state-run HEAR and HOMES rebate programs, which are limited to income-qualified households.21

Availability varies widely. One tracker counts 13 states with programs open now.26 Another puts the number of states with active programs at about 23.23 California's single-family rebates were fully reserved by February 24, 2026, leaving only a waitlist.29 Georgia's HEAR program has been paused since mid-August.25 Texas and Florida had not launched state programs as of early 2026.25 That means many residents of states with some of the highest insurance costs have not had access to these rebates.

The takeaway

The evidence points to rising costs that reinforce each other, not a single crisis. Climate losses and more expensive rebuilding push premiums up. Tariffs raise rebuilding costs. Homeowners facing those bills put off maintenance, which can lead to more claims. Higher electricity prices and an expensive heating-oil winter cut into the money left for repairs. The programs meant to offset energy costs are limited and uneven.

The insurance data matter most because the problem now goes beyond price. A homeowner can absorb a higher bill. Without coverage, a mortgage cannot stay in place. Insurers' renewed profitability shows the market can function again. Whether it serves homeowners now depends on regulators deciding how much risk insurers can drop from their books.