Welcome to your 3rd Quarter Insurance Market Update provided by your favorite local independent insurance agency, Park & Associates!
This quarter we are going to focus on the homeowners and condominium association insurance marketplace. Most of us either live in an association or are on the board of our association where budgets and dues are being thrown out of whack due to the associations insurance.
While there is not much new this quarter compared to last we think this is a good time to provide some background on where premiums COULD be headed.
It has become increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to predict where premiums are headed for associations and specifically with associations that are insuring property. Depending on the types of property being insured there are only a handful of markets willing to step up to the plate and offer coverage. This puts consumers in a difficult position. Most associations are limited to a single renewal option or maybe a few at best. And they are having to choose between the lesser of two evils most often.
At this time, we can only provide a best guess as to where rates are headed and this opinion is subject to change if we have storms or if reinsurance rates go up in the new year. With that being said, our opinion is (on average) to budget for a 50% increase looking into 2024 for associations where property insurance is involved with the disclaimer to build as much cushion above that as possible in the event of a large increase (yet again). If your association is not insuring property items, we would advise to plan for around a 30% increase with the same disclaimers. We have seen association renewals with increases of 10% and some coming in significantly higher. As always, our goal is to always provide the broadest coverage the market can offer at the best available rates.
We wish there was more positive news to share related to the insurance market but we also have to be realistic about where we are. As our last blog discussed, there have been some great legislative changes that will hopefully help the insurance market but those are long term solutions and we find ourselves in the short term.
Stay tuned for our next market update coming next quarter!
Written by:
Robbie Korth, CIC
President of Park & Associates Insurance