There are many reasons, rising costs for raw materials, particularly lumber, and supply chain disruptions are adding to the bottom line. When the pandemic hit, lumber producers feared a repeat of the Great Recession. They cut production and unloaded inventory. But demand soared, catching them by surprise, they say. The price of lumber spiked to $1,500 per thousand feet of board, a 400% year-over-year increase. The current administration’s decision to double the tariff on Canadian lumber to 18%, up from 9% during the past administration, also affected prices. Canada has been the largest U.S. trade partner for lumber, providing about 30% of U.S. supply. A severe shortage of skilled labor, demand surge, Climate risk, damage from tornados, hurricanes, severe storms, wildfires and other natural disasters has reached $82 billion this year, bringing the total from 2017 until now to more than $400 billion. Devastating winter freeze in Texas, which led to the state’s largest non-hurricane weather loss event. Hurricane Ida, which hit in late summer, is expected to be among the five costliest hurricanes in U.S. history. They haven't even started to calculate the losses from the tornadoes that ripped through eight states in early December. Yes both California and Florida are a problem. California has always been prone to wildfires, but California has been both drier and hotter during the summer months. Combined with, plant life slowly drying out and becomes quick kindling for fires, campfires and electrical system blowouts, California is now experiencing a larger number of wildfires each year. These wildfires have also grown in intensity and are now burning more acreage. Mudslides and landslides follow wildfires where the land has been left stripped. Florida's coastal problems don't help either. I too have friends that live on the coast. They continue to tell me, it only last a few weeks and then, all is great, it's worth it. I know a guy that has three homes and one of them is in the key's and his HOA fee's for a boat on constant stand by to take them back and forth are 2000 a month, what would you guess the cost of his insurance is and why he is now selling. They are looking to the future and know things are only going to get worse. What insurance company would want to insure an area that these common disasters are increasing exponentially and are far more costly, for that reason we all share the burden from all that goes on across this country. Rates are not done going up!!!
