Blog

Property Risk in North Carolina Rises Following Successive Severe Weather Events

September marks the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Florence. Hurricanes and other natural disasters, especially over the past few years, have had a substantial impact on the health of the U.S. housing stock. Natural disasters can tighten the labor construction and materials markets, impact the underlying risk of residential and commercial structures and drive heightened maintenance... Read More

Carriers Prioritize a Positive Customer Experience as Florida Braces for Hurricane Dorian

Hurricane Dorian is expected to make landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm over Labor Day weekend. This will be the fourth consecutive year that Florida experiences a major hurricane, following Hurricane Michael (2018), Hurricane Irma (2017) and Hurricane Matthew (2016). As the storm nears Florida’s east coast, the insurance industry is focused on... Read More

Flood Repair Data Highlights Impacts of Spring Flooding and Opportunities for Carriers

Flooding may not manifest as severely as other natural disasters, but increasingly, for homeowners, the impact of flooding can pack quite the punch. In the U.S., between 1980 and 2018, flood losses have topped $123.5 billion, of which almost $48 billion is covered by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Over the past few years,... Read More

2019 Hurricane Season Threatens Properties in Weather-Worn Regions

Storm activity during the 2019 hurricane season is forecasted to produce between two and four major hurricanes with winds higher than 111 mph, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA defines this level of hurricane activity as normal for the season. However, recent trends in weather activity and the impacts of an... Read More

Catastrophe Reinsurance Rates to Rise at June Renewals, Signaling Need for Increased Property Intelligence

Catastrophe reinsurance rate increases didn’t come to fruition in 2018, however, this year Florida reinsurers are expecting a shift in the market. Analysts reported catastrophe reinsurers have added inflation factors into their pricing following two years of impactful hurricane seasons and external pressures from increasing loss creep. The effect of loss creep was made particularly... Read More

Elevated Wildfire Activity in Florida Panhandle Signifies Need for Proactive Claims Resolution

It’s been six months since Hurricane Michael first made landfall on the Florida Panhandle and hurricane recovery is progressing at a steady rate – major repair completion is projected to be three months away. However, discussion of Michael has resurfaced as officials credit a recent uptick in wildfire activity to hurricane-downed trees strewn across the... Read More

Severe Hail Storms Expose Gaps on A Carrier’s Book of Business

Hail season has commenced, and the Midwest and Texas are already seeing a steady rise in storm activity. Forecasts indicate this region will see continued convective storms in the coming months, spiking insured losses across the region. Following several years of severe weather, carriers that closely monitor recovery activity will have the upper hand in... Read More

Recovery following Florence is different from past storms

It’s in the best interest of North Carolina carriers to closely monitor Hurricane Florence recovery. Florence, which made landfall in September 2018, confirmed a recent trend in hurricane activity –a hurricane’s category no longer tells the whole story. In the days before Hurricane Florence reached North Carolina, it was downgraded from a Category 4 hurricane... Read More

January catastrophe reinsurance renewals highlight need for innovation

January catastrophe reinsurance renewals are in the books. In aggregate, reinsurance renewal outcomes were stable across the U.S. However, as BuildFax predicted a few months ago, catastrophe reinsurance renewals were disproportionally impacted by loss-hit accounts. A recent report from Willis Re found that carriers without catastrophe losses left these discussions with renewal rates that ranged... Read More

Carriers Brace for Change as Shifts in Weather Impact Risk

In the last decade, 2018’s hurricane season has ranked third for damage costs behind Hurricane Sandy in 2015 and the combined effects of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017. This year’s hurricanes hit Florida for the second year in a row, as well as the Carolinas, highlighting a crucial developing trend in weather activity.... Read More