Things are changing fast in the home insurance market

In the weeks after Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit the Southeast, the price to rebuild has become a contentious topic in the home insurance market. For years, home insurers have identified climate change as a threat, cut coverage and increased premiums for properties in disaster-prone areas.

But now, home insurers are also using new technologies such as drone footage and artificial intelligence to identify other high-risk areas in urban and suburban neighborhoods.

Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, said that’s exacerbated the affordable housing crisis.

“We are definitely hearing a lot of alarm bells ringing in the real estate sector about how the sharply increasing cost of home insurance is affecting sales,” Bach said.

On the show today, Bach discusses potential reforms, including government-backed insurance programs. Plus, she offers advice for homeowners if they get dropped by an insurer.

Then, we’ll get into what headline inflation measures leave out of the cost of housing. And, how do we prepare for the upcoming Election Day in the shadow of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol? Plus, we hear from listeners about voting from overseas and the orgins of trick-or-treating.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Home Insurance is a Really Big Problem” from Kyla Scanlon on Substack
• “Rising insurance costs are making homeownership even more expensive” from Marketplace
• “How Higher Property Insurance Premiums Mirror Climate Risk” from Knowledge at Wharton
• “How the Home Insurance Market Became So Distorted” from The New York Times
• “The Home Insurance Crunch: See What’s Happening in Your State” from The New York Times
• “Can lawmakers save the collapsing Florida home insurance market?” from Bankrate
• “The Very Real Scenario Where Trump Loses and Takes Power Anyway” from Politico
• “America’s Most Famous Inflation Gauge Is Easing — But Some of Your Biggest Expenses Are Left Out” from Bloomberg

Do you have an Election Day tradition? Maybe you like to mail your ballot or treat yourself to coffee after hitting the polls. Let us know what your voting routine looks like at makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.