Sticker Shock: Homeowners Fed Up With Higher Insurance Rates and Slower Claims

Feel like you’re paying more but getting less when it comes to your homeowners insurance? You’re not imagining it. New research finds that homeowners are paying higher premiums even as service levels slip — and it's fraying homeowners' nerves around the country.

According to the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Property Claims Satisfaction Study, lots of homeowners are noticing their premiums rising. Fully half of nearly 5,200 consumers surveyed reported their insurer raising their premium over the last year — even if they didn’t file a claim.

The rate hikes are paying off for the industry. According to insurance ratings and analytics firm AM Best, property and casualty insurers collectively earned a $22.9 billion in net underwriting gains last year — the industry’s first profit since 2020. But customers are getting increasingly frustrated, especially because those higher rates are combined with longer times to resolve claims. This is largely a function of back-to-back years with an unprecedented number of natural disasters: 27 last year and 28 in 2023, according to Mark Garrett, director of insurance intelligence at J.D. Power.

More disasters mean more demand for insurance adjusters, contractors, laborers and construction materials. The upshot is that it now takes more than a month between when a homeowner files a claim and repairs are completed. It takes an average of 44 days before a homeowner receives the final payment on their claim. Both are the highest recorded durations since J.D. Power began keeping track of these statistics in 2008, Garrett says.

J.D. Power found that people's satisfaction with their homeowners insurance provider tanks if it takes more than a month for repairs to be made. The average satisfaction score drops from 762 (out of 1,000) for claims wrapped up within 10 days to 595 — a whopping 167-point drop — for claims that drag on for a month or more. Getting hit with a premium increase unrelated to a claim also put a big dent in satisfaction levels among this year's survey group, dropping by an average of 101 points, from 730 to 629.

Sticker shock is the rule, not the exception

Unfortunately, higher premiums are probably here to stay, Garrett predicts. "I don't project any slowdown… because we're still seeing really bad volatility in the weather," he says.

Homeowners insurance cost an average of about $2,300 last year, according to financial data firm Intercontinental Exchange. That reflects a record-high leap of 14%, or $276, in a single year alone. In the most expensive parts of the country, policyholders could find themselves paying even more: Annual premiums top $3,500 in Miami, New Orleans, Dallas and Tampa.

Blame inflation, says Karen Collins, assistant vice president of personal lines for the trade group American Property Casualty Insurance Association. "On a cumulative basis, over the past five years, we’re seeing the cost to rebuild up 35% to 40%,” she says, on account of higher costs for construction materials and labor.

The pain policyholders are feeling isn't limited to hurricane- or wildfire-prone areas, says Nancy Albanese, vice president and private client advisor at insurance brokerage The Safegard Group.

“We’ve definitely been seeing rates increase over the past three years or so. We work with about 20 different insurance carriers, and it's pretty universal that they've all had significant rate increases... between 10% and 25%," she says. In addition, if your home is in a designated flood or earthquake zone, you might have to have separate policies to insure against damage from those disasters, which aren’t covered by typical homeowners insurance. If your home is in an area prone to windstorms, you might have a separate deductible if your home sustains damage from a named storm.

But although it may seem like an uphill battle, experts say there are still ways people can save on the rising cost of homeowners insurance.

How to save on your homeowners insurance

Shop around. You might find a lower rate with a different carrier, especially if you’ve been with your current insurer for many years.

“Definitely make sure you shop around because we know different insurers have different approaches” for assessing and quantifying risks, Garrett says. This can yield variations — sometimes significant ones — in how each company prices risk.

Bundle multiple policies. Bundling your home and automobile insurance policies is one of the most common ways to save on homeowners insurance. Savings vary by carrier, but some insurers advertise savings of more than $1,200 a year.

Upgrade your home. Major renovations like replacing a roof could earn you a lower rate, as could building or installing features that make your house better able to resist hazards like wind or wildfires.

“There’s a lot of discounts companies are offering if you're able to reduce your risk," Collins says. "If you’re less likely to have damage, that can translate to a discount."

Increase your deductible. A higher deductible means more money out of your pocket if you suffer a disaster, but there are two reasons to consider it, Albanese says. Lower rates are one obvious benefit, but it could also deter you from filing a small claim that could make it harder for you to get affordable homeowners insurance in the future.

"In this market, [homeowners] might not want to put in a smaller claim," she says. While an insurance company is unlikely to drop a homeowner who files a single claim, finding coverage gets dicier when you rack up multiple claims, Albanese warns. And while insurers typically used to look back three years, now they've expanded that window to five or even seven years.

In a worst-case scenario, if you file a small claim and then suffer a larger disaster within a year or two, you could be dropped by your insurer and then find yourself scrambling for coverage at any price.

Look for discounts. Even as premiums climb, the number of discounts you might be able to claim has grown, thanks to a proliferation of smart-home devices designed to detect or prevent damage. You might be eligible for a lower rate if you have protective devices such as a burglar alarm, surveillance system, sprinkler system, water shut-off system or smoke alarms.

Some carriers will give you a discount if you haven’t filed a claim for a certain period or if you agree to receive paperless statements, set up automatic payments or pay in advance.

More from Money:

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Homeowners Are Increasing Insurance Deductibles to $5,000 or More to Save Money

How to Find Affordable Homeowners Insurance in a Tough Market