Why Landlord Insurance Premiums Are Skyrocketing in 2026 (And How to Stop It)
Summary
Landlord insurance premiums are rising due to increased hailstorms and roof claim filings. Hosts should proactively manage their properties to reduce claims and consider higher deductibles to save on insurance costs and accurately assess insurance expenses when evaluating a deal.
Key Insights
- •Insurance premiums are rising rapidly, with increases of 25-50% year over year in some cases, primarily due to an increase in hailstorms and related roof claims.
- •The single biggest factor driving up insurance premiums is having had a claim at any point in the last 10 years.
- •The price of insurance historically has tracked almost exactly to the price of inflation as long as other behaviors are changing. If inflation last year was 5%, hosts should also expect that their insurance is going to go up 5%.
Action Items
- ✓Once you get down to two or three properties that you’re serious about, call up your agent and say, these are the three properties. I want an actual quote for these. I’m not ready to buy yet, but tell me what it’s going to cost.Effort: lowImpact: medium
- ✓Set yourself up so that you're going to have fewer claims across all of your properties to reduce insurance costs.Effort: mediumImpact: high
- ✓Consider setting higher deductibles to reduce the cost of insurance.Effort: lowImpact: medium
- ✓When underwriting a deal, go and find one of the calculators where all you have to do is enter in the address and the year built to the property and come up with a ballpark number, and that’s generally going to be plus or minus 25% of the real number.Effort: lowImpact: medium
Tools & Resources
- →Steadily: BiggerPockets, Steadily has that feature built into the website, and that’s great. It saves a ton of time.
Common Mistakes
- ⚠A common mistake is using a homeowner’s insurance policy on a rental property, which may not provide adequate coverage.
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