Texas Legislators Seek Solutions to Rising Home Insurance Rates
Article 1 Comment Texas lawmakers hope to rein in homeowners’ rising insurance bills even as they acknowledge there’s only so much they can do to tackle costs. Legislators have advanced bills to limit how much insurance companies can hike rates and help homeowners make their homes more insurable. They’ve also sought to compel insurers to be more upfront with homeowners when they decide to yank coverage, or deny it in the first place. Texans pay some of the highest insurance premiums in the country. On average, Texas homeowners saw their insurance rates spike by double digits in recent years — a far cry from the previous decade when such increases were unheard of. Homeowners’ insurance rates climbed by nearly 19% in 2024, according to the Texas Department of Insurance, slightly down from more than 21% the previous year. A number of factors have spurred insurance costs in recent years, insurance experts say. For one, property values in Texas surged amid the state’s population boom — raising the cost to ensure homes and businesses. Climate change has intensified extreme weather events like hailstorms, hurricanes, and winter freezes and made severe weather more common. With the state’s population growth, more people have...