BuildFax: Roof Age Inaccuracy Could Impact Reinsurance Negotiations

BuildFax, a provider of property condition and history insights for the largest insurance and financial institutions, released a report on remodeling trends following Hurricane Irma that could impact this year’s annual catastrophe reinsurance negotiations for Florida carriers.

Following more than $10 billion in insured losses after Hurricane Irma, BuildFax conducted an in-depth analysis of a major Florida carrier’s book of business and found that 56.9 percent of client roof age data was inaccurate.

The report revealed a number of property condition insights that carriers can leverage to evaluate the true risk across their books and to strengthen their positions in upcoming reinsurance negotiations:

• Residential remodeling increased 20.29 percent in Florida in the year after Irma compared to the year prior, while remodeling on a national level increased just 6.07 percent in the same time frame.
• Nearly 80 percent of roofs in Florida are more than 11 years old, with only 12.6 percent of roofs less than 5 years old.
• The percentage of expensive remodeling projects has been increasing steadily over the last few years.

“Going into renewal negotiations armed with these accurate insights will prove especially helpful for Florida carriers,” said Holly Tachovsky, CEO of BuildFax. “Further, identifying coverage gaps using timely change detection insights allows carriers to know they are up to date going into a catastrophe.”

Visit the website to obtain a copy of the report.