Ryan Serhant warns Florida’s insurance mess is ‘one of the greatest crises people will see’
Florida is no stranger to hurricanes and their costly impacts. But the rising cost of home insurance seemingly keeps rising, and it’s something Ryan Serhant can’t ignore.
"It's about $34 billion of bad. It's one of the greatest insurance crises that we'll see, I think, in a very, very long time," the SERHANT. CEO, founder and broker said on "Varney & Co." Friday.
Just over one week ago, Hurricane Helene made landfall on the Sunshine State’s Big Bend region after intensifying into a catastrophic Category 4 hurricane with winds reaching 140 mph.
Following landfall, millions of customers were without power in Florida, and outages were also climbing in Georgia and the Carolinas. Some in the South saw "unsurvivable" storm surge, with the death toll surpassing 200, FOX Weather reports.
STUNNING STAT SHOWS HOW FEW HELENE VICTIMS HAD FLOOD INSURANCE IN APPALACHIA
Since 1980, the U.S. has been impacted by 378 weather events that have caused financial damage of at least $1 billion, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports.
Florida cities such as Hialeah, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and West Palm Beach all rank high for risk of natural disasters, and pay some of the highest insurance premiums.
Data released by Insurify, an online insurance comparison website, showed a household’s insurance rate surged nearly 20% between 2021 and 2023, with an additional 6% expected before the year’s end.
Homeowners in Florida and Louisiana faced the highest rates in the entire country, with increases projected to be around 7% and 23%, respectively, over the next year.
"What's more frightening to me is that only 2 to 4% of homeowners actually have flood insurance," Serhant noted. "If you get it through the National Flood Insurance Program, it's $1,000 a year on top of all of your other costs. So it's a travesty."
What’s more, America’s real estate market is still in a stalemate, according to Serhant, even though the Federal Reserve lowered the benchmark rate to a range of 4.75% to 5%.
"Inventory is up, interest rates are at 20-month lows, but buyers are still sitting on the sidelines. People are waiting. They want to see if deals are going to come," the "Owning Manhattan" star explained.
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"No one wants to catch a falling knife, but also no one wants to jump into a speeding car."
Florida’s average homeowners insurance rate is estimated to be around $11,000 per year, but Insurify said that could clock in closer to $12,000 with proposed rate increases.
FOX Weather’s Steven Yablonski, Emilee Speck, Scott Sistek and Andrew Wulfeck contributed to this report.