By Hannah Grover
New Mexico saw a 31% increase in the number of home insurance policies that were not renewed from 2018 to 2023, according to information compiled by two advocacy groups.
The groups Public Citizen and Revolving Door Project used information from the U.S. Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office and a U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget’s investigation into the impacts of climate change on insurance markets to compile maps showing where costs are increasing and policies are either not being renewed or are being canceled.
People are able to view zip-code level information about the insurance market on the maps. For example, the community of Alto in Lincoln County is among the top 100 in the country in terms of increases in nonrenewed policies from 2018 to 2022. According to the information compiled by the two advocacy groups, Alto experienced a more-than 2000% increase in policies being canceled.
Lincoln County has been the location of several major fires in recent years including the South Fork Fire in 2024 and the McBride Fire in 2022. The county also experienced intense flooding last year.
Incidents like fires and floods, which are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change, are among the reasons why fewer people are able to access home insurance and why premiums are increasing.
“This data is a first step toward monitoring the crisis, identifying vulnerable communities, and informing urgent policy interventions,” Carly Fabian, senior insurance policy advocate, Public Citizen’s Climate Program, said in a press release. “Monitoring the availability and affordability of insurance is essential because it is primarily policyholders and the public who are paying the price for climate change through higher premiums, while insurance companies are continuing to profit. This data should be a starting point for ongoing work to understand how climate change is impacting policyholders across the country. As the crisis deepens, greater public access to data like this will tell a deeper story about how the crisis is impacting us all.”
Our state leaders need to get on top of the growing issue of homeowner’s insurance in New Mexico before it becomes a crisis or deteriorates our housing market and real estate values. While wildfires are a real risk that insurance providers must consider in NM, along with flooding in some cases, the vast majority of residential properties are located within suburban developments within metropolitan areas like Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe. There is little to no risk of loss due to fires and floods in these areas, and it is absolutely ridiculous to be placing the burden onto these homeowners, and doing so appears to be an effort to subsidize the rising costs in other high risk communities, whether within NM or elsewhere. I’ve lived in the same home within an older neighborhood in Albuquerque for 11 years. We have excellent payment history and credit, no claims in 6+ years, and have not added onto the house or made any significant modifications. We have a single-story home with a brick exterior and pitched roof, a new/newer roof, upgraded windows, and a security system. We are located in close proximity to a fire hydrant, and miles from the Bosque/Cottonwood trees along the Rio Grande or open space and national forest along the Sandias. Our policy premium when we purchased the house 11 years ago was about $900/yr. By 2022, it had gradually climbed to $1,700/yr. Then, from 2023 to 2024, our annual premium doubled to more than $3,400/yr. When I contacted the insurance company, thinking there had to have been a mistake, I was even more outraged to find out how grossly underinsured we were, especially in light of the cost to renew our coverage. In the event of a total loss, the maximum payout at the policy limit would have only covered the cost to rebuilt about half of our house, and there had been minimal to no adjustments in the amount that we were covered for despite the premiums having skyrocketed and construction costs having significantly increased in recent years. NM will need to seriously look into entering the insurance market on a much larger scale than they are currently, or needs to be more involved and proactive in the regulation of insurance providers doing business in our state.
Rising insurance rates are a wake up call.
The weather will continue to get more extreme until we stop burning so much oil, gas, and coal.
The experts have been warning us since the 1970s!
It’s time to listen.