What changed in home insurance from 2025 to 2026?

From 2025 to 2026, more homeowners expressed confidence in their coverage, policyholders saw fewer rate hikes, and fewer people canceled their coverage due to cost.

Overall trend snapshot

Comparing results from 2025, homeowners in 2026 felt more confident in their insurance and saw fewer rate increases and cancellations.

2026 insurance trends showed:

  • Confidence increased: 18.58% reported they were unsure whether they had enough insurance for a natural disaster, compared to 23% in 2025.
  • Rate shock decreased: 32% reported that their insurance rates didn’t increase at all, compared to 20% in 2025.
  • Insurance impacts on home buying dropped: 1.5% reported backing out of home purchase due to insurance, compared to 12% in 2025.

Biggest year-over-year shifts

While insurance perception improved overall in 2026, the biggest changes were:

  • 5% reported a rate increase of 25-49%, compared to 16% in 2025.
  • 32% reported no rate increase, compared to only 20% last year
  • 74% of homeowners surveyed said they feel confident in their insurance, up from 70% in 2025.

Are homeowners more confident in their insurance coverage?

Yes, the majority of homeowners feel confident in their coverage. Compared to 2025, 4% more homeowners in 2026 believe they have enough coverage for a natural disaster. 

Confidence in disaster protection improved

More homeowners (up 4%) feel that they have enough coverage to protect their home from a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, wildfire or hurricane.

  • 74% of homeowners surveyed reported feeling confident that their insurance coverage is adequate for a natural disaster, up from 70% in 2025. 
  • 19% were unsure whether they had enough coverage, down from 23% in 2025.
  • The number of homeowners who say they can’t afford the coverage they need stayed steady at 3%.

Coverage uncertainty still affects nearly 1 in 5 homeowners

Severe weather and natural disasters are happening more often, leaving almost one in five homeowners unsure whether they have enough home insurance. Additionally, around 25% of those surveyed felt they had insufficient coverage, didn’t know how much coverage they had, or couldn’t afford enough coverage.

Do most homeowners really have enough coverage?

Homeowner confidence in their coverage may not reflect reality; as many as 75% of homes are underinsured, and many homeowners aren’t aware that home insurance doesn’t cover floods or earthquakes. Flood is one of the biggest gaps in coverage, but even for covered perils, many homes don’t have enough dwelling coverage to replace their home. Homeowners should review their policy annually with an agent to ensure appropriate coverage.

Are home insurance premium increases slowing down?

The survey indicates that home insurance increases have slowed compared to last year. More homeowners reported no increase in their rates in the past year (32% in 2026 vs. 20% in 2025), and of those who did have an increase, the majority (38%) saw rates rise by less than 10% 

Fewer homeowners report large rate increases

Large premiumThe payment required for an insurance policy to remain in force. Auto insurance premiums are quoted for either 6-month or annual policy periods. increases are less common in 2026, with fewer homeowners reporting increases of more than 10%, and only 2% reporting increases of 50% or more.

  • 5% reported a rate increase of 25-49%, compared to 16% of homeowners in 2025
  • 23%% reported a rate increase of 10-24%%, compared to 29% of homeowners in 2025

More homeowners report stable or small increases

The majority of homeowners had either no increase or an increase of less than 10%.

  • 32% reported no rate increase in 2026, compared to 20% in 2025
  • 38% reported a rate increase of less than 10% in 2026, compared to 30% in 2025

Will rate increases keep slowing?

The trend of smaller rate increases is likely to continue, though homeowners can still expect some increases at renewal. Rate increases approved by state regulators take time to trickle down to policyholders, so not all homeowners have felt the impact yet, especially in areas like California, where wildfires have prompted major carriers to file rate increase requests.

Are homeowners canceling insurance because they can’t afford it?

Just over 2% of homeowners surveyed canceled their home insurance in 2026 because they couldn’t afford it. That’s down about three-quarters of a percentage from 2025, when 3% said they had canceled due to cost.

Cost-driven cancellations are rare

While few homeowners canceled coverage in 2025 due to cost, even fewer made that decision in 2026:

  • 2.26% reported canceling insurance in 2026 due to cost, compared to 3% in 2025

The rarity of cost-driven cancellations doesn’t point to affordability

Although the survey found that very few people cancel home insurance because of cost, this doesn’t mean premiums are affordable, as homeowners may look to other methods to keep coverage they can't afford. Underinsurance is a common problem; homeowners cut insurance costs by carrying less coverage than they actually need. Furthermore, mortgage requirements force people to keep coverage, which may leave them struggling financially and making cuts elsewhere.

How common are policy cancellations and nonrenewals overall?

Only 7% of respondents in the survey reported having a policy canceled or nonrenewed, down from 11% last year. Reasons for the loss of coverage vary, with living in a high-risk area or the company leaving the area being the most common at 2% each.

Most homeowners still have stable coverage

In 2026, 90% of homeowners surveyed reported that their policy had not been canceled or not renewed, compared to 93% in 2025. Although more homeowners had their policies canceled or not renewed in 2026, the numbers remain very low.

What are the common reasons for nonrenewal?

No single reason stood out as the most common; insurers leaving the market and high-risk locations each accounted for 3% of responses, with the rest at lower levels. Insurers chose to cancel or not renew a home insurance policy for many reasons in 2026, including:

  • Insurer leaving the market: 2%
  • Risky location:2%
  • Roof age or condition: 1%
  • Maintenance issues: 1%

Why are cancellations and nonrenewals up this year?

The slight increase in cancellations and nonrenewals likely points to a delay in insurance company decisions reaching homeowners. Nonrenewal notices may not come until months after an insurer has decided to reduce risk in a certain area. 

Although floods are the most common natural disaster, only 22% of homeowners report having the coverage, not far from 21% in 2025. The number of people who canceled a flood policy because of cost held fairly steady from last year.

Most homeowners still do not carry flood insurance

In 2026, 75% of homeowners surveyed say they have not had flood insurance in the past 12 months, down from 77% in 2025. Although homeowners who aren’t in high-risk flood areas may believe the coverage isn’t necessary, statistics show otherwise; 90% of natural disasters in the U.S. involve flooding, and homeowners insurance doesn’t cover it.

Cost-related cancellation remains small

In 2026, 4% of homeowners canceled flood insurance due to cost, compared to 3% in 2025. This signals that although coverage can be expensive, those who need it absorb the cost. Most people who have flood insurance have kept it over the past year, 22% in 2026 compared to 21% in 2025.

Why flood insurance is the biggest coverage gap

Floods happen everywhere, but most homeowners don’t carry flood insurance. Many believe homeowners insurance covers flooding, and don’t find out that they need flood insurance until it’s too late. Furthermore, people outside of high-risk flood zones may believe a flood is unlikely, but a quarter of National Flood Insurance Program flood claims come from areas not designated as high-risk.

Are insurer inspections affecting homeowners?

In 2026, over 65% of homeowners reported no impact from a home inspection, and over 21% did not know whether an inspection took place. Less than 2% of homeowners surveyed reported loss of coverage due to an inspection, and another 4% were asked to make modifications to keep coverage.

Most homeowners report that there was no inspection 

The number of homeowners who reported an inspection fell from 67% in 2025 to 65% in 2026. While these homeowners state there was no inspection, it’s possible that one took place without their knowledge. Many insurers use drones, satellite images, and other unobtrusive measures to conduct inspections that homeowners may not be aware of. Homeowners are usually not notified of an inspection unless there are adverse consequences.

In 2026, 22% of homeowners reported being unsure whether an inspection took place, compared to 19% in 2025. 

Adverse outcomes remain limited

Some homeowners experienced negative outcomes from insurance inspections: 4% were asked to make property modifications in 2026, compared to 3% in 2025. Additionally, 1.50% reported their insurance being canceled due to an inspection in 2026, compared to 2% in 2025.

Inspection cancellations make the news, but remain unusual

New stories about homeowners facing cancellation after an inspection appear regularly, but the actual rate of these cancellations is small. The survey found that most homeowners either aren’t aware of an inspection or don’t think there has been one, and only a small percentage have had an issue related to an inspection.

Compared to 2025, homeowners in 2026 are more confident they have adequate coverage, rate increases are slowing, and homeowners are maintaining their policies despite rising costs.

  1. Confidence is improving. Homeowners feel more protected against disasters, with 74.22% reporting they have enough coverage in the event of a natural disaster. However, almost 20% are unsure if they have enough home insurance.
  2. Rate pressure is stabilizing. Fewer homeowners reported a rate increase of more than 10% in 2026. However, the number of homeowners who received a rate increase of less than 10% climbed to 37.81% in 2026 from 30% in 2025. This signals fewer extreme rate increases with more moderate adjustments.
  3. Coverage is being maintained despite cost pressures. In 2026, almost 98% of homeowners surveyed said that they did not cancel coverage due to premiums, up from 95% in 2025. This shows that homeowners view coverage as a priority and absorb the cost into their budgets.
  4. Risk-based underwriting still matters. While most homeowners report no insurance problems, cancellations and non-renewals still occur, whether due to inspections or risk. Additionally, around 75% of homeowners don’t have flood insurance, creating a significant coverage gap for those at risk of flooding. 

FAQ

Are home insurance rate increases still increasing?

Yes, rates are still increasing, but not by as much. The majority of people in our survey reported a rate increase in the past year. However, fewer respondents reported large increases in 2026, and 32% reported no increase at all, up from 20% in 2025.

Cancellation of a homeowners insurance policy by the carrierAn insurance carrier is the company that provides your car insurance policy and pays claims. is rare. Although 11% of respondents in our survey reported a cancellation or nonrenewal, the majority of those were nonrenewals (the policy is dropped at renewal); true midterm cancellations can only take place for very limited reasons, and most of the reasons selected in the survey (living in a high-risk area, roof age or condition, carrier leaving the area, maintenance issues) would lead to nonrenewal. Reasons for midterm cancellation (non-payment, lying on an application) accounted for less than 1% of responses.

No, most homeowners don’t need flood insurance by any mandate; however, it is the only policy that covers damage from overland flooding, which can occur anywhere. That makes it a smart purchase for any homeowner.

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