Homeowners insurance costs are going through the roof. Here’s why, and what you can do about it.

When Joy Sharp built a new home in the small coastal community of Wilmington, North Carolina, about eight years ago, the cost of homeowners insurance was a relatively modest $1,400. That was before.

Now, after a series of violent storms that hit the Atlantic coast in recent years, its annual premiums have more than quadrupled. “I’ve now received renewal fees of $6,000,” Sharp, 39, herself an insurance agent, told CBS News. “So, every year it goes up and up and up and doesn’t come down.”

Florida resident Sam Weitzner and his wife have also been hit since they purchased their Orlando home in 2017. Their homeowners coverage increased from $1,500 to nearly $6,000 a year, affecting their finances and forcing them to change insurers.

“Ultimately we decided to move because, of course, obviously the cost was too high,” he told CBS News. “It was affecting our mortgage payments and we just couldn’t make ends meet. And so, it became a priority because we knew that, in order to be insured and continue to have our home, it was the only way to go. Action.”

Sharp and Weitzner are hardly alone. Millions of Americans face rising home insurance rates as natural disasters linked to climate change drive up costs for insurers.

Homeowners insurance rates nationwide rose an average of 11.3% in 2023, with homeowners in Arizona, Texas and Utah seeing spikes of more than 20%, according to for S&P Global Market Intelligence. Homeowners in Delaware, Hawaii, Mississippi and Vermont saw the lowest insurance rate increases, ranging between 2% and 4% last year.

“This is crazy”

Still, even more modest increases add up to hundreds of dollars extra each year for coverage, enough to frustrate Americans who still face persistent inflation. Sharp remembers being shocked to learn that she would have to pay nearly $6,000 under her revised home insurance policy without a commensurate increase in coverage.

“I thought it was a joke,” she told CBS News. “I thought, OK, where are my discounts? It has to be like the three-year policy or else this is crazy. The rates went up, but my home coverage didn’t go up much. I mean, this is a budget buster which simply destroys the entire economy.”

The real estate industry, already grappling with the impact of higher mortgage rates in recent years, has taken notice. More than 20 housing organizations, including the powerful National Association of Home Builders and the National Multifamily Housing Council, have urged the Biden administration and Congress on a Letter this week to address the causes of rising insurance premiums.

Affordable housing providers, in particular, face sharply higher premiums — nearly 1 in 3 policies saw rate increases of at least 25% in the most recent coverage renewal period, the groups said. They also highlighted the impact of natural disasters on increasing costs.

“Beginning in 2017, the property insurance market began to destabilize as more frequent natural catastrophes occurred,” the letter states. “Insured losses from natural disasters were estimated at $121 billion and nearly $125 billion in 2021 and 2022, respectively, both well above the 10-year average of $81 billion.”

Among other possible solutions, the housing coalition calls for the creation of home insurance supported by the federal government.

Insurance companies left or stopped renewing policies in disaster-prone states such as California, Florida, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas. Insurers say writing policies in these areas is too risky because of the greater likelihood of wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes or earthquakes. The increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather – which scientists link to climate change – means higher payouts from insurers, leading to higher premiums for millions of Americans.

Weather is the main reason insurance rates are rising, but inflation also plays a role, said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin.

“When inflation is rising, that basically means the cost of everything is going up,” Fairweather told CBS News. “And that includes the cost of maintaining the houses, the cost of renovating the houses. And that comes into the home insurance equation.”

What Landlords Can Do

So what can homeowners do about excessive insurance costs? Experts point to some options:

• Bundling your home and auto insurance can yield lower rates
• Call for additional quotes
• Invest in weatherproofing your home, including storm-resistant windows, landscaping, and drains

“Instead of sending the money to the insurance company, you can use it to protect your home and potentially get a lower premium in exchange for it,” Fairweather said.

Sharp negotiated with his insurance company, who agreed to reduce his premium to $2,400 a year.