Home Insurance Is at a Record High. Greenville Just Saw the Nation’s Biggest Increase
Home insurance costs in Greenville surged nearly 16%, the top increase nationally, reflecting rising housing expenses even inland. Weather risks and rebuilding costs push premiums higher across the Sun Belt.
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Greenville, South Carolina, has spent years attracting new residents with relatively affordable homes, a growing economy and easy access to the mountains.
Now one of the hidden costs of owning a home there is rising faster than anywhere else in the country.
Home-insurance costs in Greenville jumped nearly 16% over the past year, the largest increase among major U.S. housing markets, according to new data from Intercontinental Exchange. Columbia, South Carolina, was also among the cities with the sharpest increases.
The national average property-insurance payment for a single-family homeowner with a mortgage reached a record $209 a month in June, or roughly $2,500 a year. Since 2020, that cost has risen nearly 80%.
The numbers show how the home-insurance problem is spreading beyond the coastal communities most closely associated with hurricanes and expensive coverage.
Insurance is becoming a bigger part of the housing bill
Homeowners usually focus on the mortgage when they think about housing costs. But the monthly payment is increasingly being shaped by everything around it: taxes, association fees and insurance.
Property insurance now accounts for about 9.6% of the average homeowner’s mortgage-related housing expenses. In some places it is much higher. In New Orleans, insurance accounts for nearly a quarter of the total.
That matters even in markets where home prices have stopped climbing as rapidly. A buyer may negotiate a lower purchase price or refinance eventually if interest rates fall. Insurance is different. Premiums can rise at renewal, and homeowners with mortgages generally have little choice about maintaining adequate coverage.
For households already stretching to buy a home, another $30, $50 or $100 a month can change the affordability calculation.
Why Greenville?
Greenville is far from the South Carolina coast, but inland does not mean insulated from weather losses.
Hurricane Helene brought destructive winds, flooding and fallen trees across the western Carolinas in 2024, including areas well away from the ocean. Severe thunderstorms and other costly weather events have added to insurers’ losses across the region.
Insurance companies also face higher rebuilding costs. Roofing, construction labor and building materials are more expensive than they were several years ago, increasing what insurers may have to pay after a major loss.
The South Carolina Department of Insurance lists a home’s location, construction type, age, coverage amount and local risk conditions among the factors that can affect premiums. It also encourages homeowners to compare insurers rather than automatically renewing the same policy.
The latest national figures suggest that shopping around can make a meaningful difference.
Homeowners who recently switched insurance companies lowered their premiums by an average of 6.6%, while those who stayed with the same insurer saw average increases of 10.4%. In Miami, homeowners who changed carriers saved an average of 18.5%.
No longer just a Florida story
Florida has become the symbol of America’s home-insurance crisis after years of hurricanes, insurer failures and rapidly rising premiums. But the Greenville numbers point toward a broader change.
Insurance risk is increasingly becoming part of the cost of living across the Sun Belt, including communities that once looked comfortably removed from the most obvious climate hazards.
The Carolinas can face hurricanes moving inland. Texas homeowners contend with hail, windstorms and hurricanes. Arizona and Nevada face wildfire exposure in some communities. Louisiana continues to struggle with some of the highest insurance costs in the country. The result is an affordability problem that does not appear in the listing price.
The new cost of Sun Belt homeownership
For much of the past decade, families moving into the Sun Belt were drawn by a familiar promise: more house for the money.
That advantage has already narrowed as home prices climbed in many fast-growing metros. Insurance is now adding another complication.
Greenville is a particularly telling example because it is not Miami, New Orleans or a barrier-island community. It is an inland growth market in the foothills of South Carolina. And this year, its homeowners experienced the largest insurance increase among major U.S. markets.
That may be the more important warning in the latest numbers. The home-insurance crisis is no longer something only coastal homeowners need to calculate. Increasingly, it is becoming part of the price of owning a home across the Sun Belt.
If you’ve been following growth and change around here, these stories are worth a look too.
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Davis & Langford CPA
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