Fannie Mae: Consumers Worry About Extreme Weather on Homes, Insurance Premiums

(Illustration courtesy of Fannie Mae)

Nearly half of Americans surveyed expressed concern about the impact of extreme weather events on their homes–especially about excessive wind and heat–according to Fannie Mae, Washington, D.C.

The enterprise recently surveyed homeowners and renters about their experiences with and concerns about a range of weather-related events, including extreme heat, strong winds from hurricanes and tornadoes, drought, wildfires and flooding for a new report, Consumer Concerns with Weather-Related Events and Impact on Insurance Premiums.

“As expected, geographic location has a significant influence on the weather-related events that are of greatest concern to consumers: strong winds are the biggest concern in the Northeast, Midwest and South, while extreme heat is the biggest concern in the West,” Fannie Mae Market Research Senior Associate Kevin Tillmann and Senior Director of Climate Impact Strategy Saif Amin said in a blog post about the report. “Additionally, a quarter of respondents reported having experienced weather-related damage to their current home.”

The report noted two in three insured homeowners said weather-related events and damage have affected their home insurance premiums and two-thirds of homeowners said they have taken precautionary measures to reduce damage risk to their home.

“Consumers trust a mix of sources to determine the risk of weather-related damage to their homes,” Tillmann and Amin said. “Their preferred ‘source of truth’ includes insurance agents (40%), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (35%) and friends and family (32%).”