The state's property insurer of last resort has proposed raising homeowner's rates an average of 7.7 percent statewide this year.
The Advocate reports the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp.'s board said Thursday that the rate increase is being driven in part by higher reinsurance costs for coastal areas south of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
Chief Financial Officer Steve Cottrell says although the overall increase is 7.7 percent, under the proposed rates 93 percent of Citizens' policyholders would see an average increase of 5.3 percent. Seven percent of policyholders in the coastal plan would see a 30.2 percent increase; all but 2 percent of that is for additional reinsurance costs.
The new rates, if approved by the state Department of Insurance, would go into effect June 1.