Fiscal Notes: Home Insurance Premiums Complicate Housing Affordability

October 30, 2024

Fiscal Notes: Home Insurance Premiums Complicate Housing Affordability

(AUSTIN) - In this edition of Fiscal Notes, Comptroller researchers examine the rising price of homeowners insurance and how some have turned to the more drastic step of self-insuring - that is, going without commercial insurance and instead deciding (or hoping) to save money for future property damage.

A May 2024 survey of 1,500 U.S. homeowners conducted by insurance research organization ClaimGuide found that 23 percent of homeowners feel pressure to shift spending habits to offset rising homeowners insurance premiums. And using 2022 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, ClaimGuide found that Texas had the 14th highest percentage of homeowners living without homeowners insurance, at 9.5 percent or more than 1.1 million homeowners.

"Access to affordable housing has played a significant part in Texas' economic growth and our ability to attract businesses and jobs to our great state," said Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, whose agency this year released a report on housing affordability challenges, which examined the factors contributing to the crisis across the U.S. "Lawmakers have taken important steps to lower overall housing costs by working to lower property taxes and pushing to eliminate regulatory barriers that artificially limit our ability to build housing at the pace needed to meet demand. But more must be done, and I am focused on working with lawmakers in the upcoming session to address this issue and safeguard our future economic health."

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