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Insurance cost of Los Angeles wildfires may be felt in Australia

Outlet: ABC News Australia

California’s devastating wildfires have exposed an insurance crisis plaguing many disaster-prone areas around the world, and risk pushing up premiums in Australia.

In recent years, many major insurers have been pulling back on property coverage in California as climate change has made wildfires, floods and windstorms more frequent and damaging.

In 2023, seven of the 12 largest insurance companies by market share in the state either paused or restricted issuing new policies.

It has made it extremely difficult for home owners in high-risk areas to obtain or afford insurance.

“There’s been a mass exodus of big players from the market in these parts of California,” Ben Keys, a real estate and finance professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, said.