The estimated insured value of residential and commercial properties in just the coastal counties of the U.S. East and Gulf Coast states now exceeds $10 trillion. The estimated value of these properties in the coastal counties of the states of Florida and New York alone totals nearly $3 trillion in each state.
Those statistics are from catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, which released an update to its “The Coastline at Risk” report with its most recent estimates of the insured value of residential and commercial properties in states along the Eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast of the United States.
While above-average sea surface temperatures in the last nearly two decades have elevated hurricane activity in the open Atlantic, AIR says there is a far more certain driver of U.S. hurricane risk that the insurance industry faces: the continuing increase in both the number of insured properties in areas of high hazard and the replacement value of those properties.
AIR estimates that 38 percent of the total exposure in coastal states is currently located in coastal counties of hurricane states, which accounts for 16 percent of the total value of properties in the entire U.S.
Over the past five years, the insured value of properties in coastal states increased at a compound annual growth rate of near 4 percent, according to AIR. While the economic recession of the last five years has resulted in slower growth than the historical average, there are signs that new construction is picking up once again.
The AIR report also says New York edges out Florida as the state with the highest estimated property replacement values, at $2.9 trillion; but Florida has the largest proportion—79 percent—of its insured value located in coastal counties.
Source: AIR Worldwide