Finance
High homeowners insurance rates scaring away Florida homebuyers, other states face the same issue
Southern states like Florida, Texas and Oklahoma have the highest homeowners insurance rates in the country. (iStock)
Florida is in the middle of an unprecedented insurance crisis. The state has the highest homeowners’ insurance rates in the country, an Insurify study found.
These record-high rates are driving potential homeowners away, especially in coastal areas where rates are highest.
Realtors in the state cite the aftermath of Hurricane Ian as one of the largest factors driving rates up, a Bloomberg article reported. After Hurricane Ian, rates shot up by 42%, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
“You’ve got people that went through the storm and just want to move on, and don’t really think the affordability is here anymore because of insurance,” said Marlissa Gervasoni, Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association president.
Southwest Florida has traditionally been a hot spot for buyers. Its home prices have often outpaced the national average. Even with an increase in listings, buyers are now shying away from the area, largely due to unaffordable homeowners insurance.
Additionally, rampant insurance fraud has plagued Florida in recent years, causing insurers to raise rates to keep up with demand.
You can shop around to make sure you’re not overpaying for your homeowners insurance policy. Get free quotes from Credible in minutes and compare multiple policies at once.
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South and Midwest hit with highest rates
Florida isn’t alone when it comes to rising homeowners’ insurance rates. Nationally, the average cost of homeowners’ insurance went up by 12% for $300,000 in property coverage, Insurify’s report found. The average annual cost now sits at $1,770.
Certain states have felt these rising premiums more than others. While Florida tops the list, Oklahoma residents have seen their annual rates increase 24% to $4,782, on average. Mississippi follows close behind with an average yearly premium of $4,017, up 23% from the previous year. Texas has also seen an increase in claims due to dangerous weather with an average premium of $3,969, up 18% annually.
These states face a higher risk of weather-related events that require large payouts from insurers. In turn, insurance companies are becoming less profitable and raise rates.
Areas that have a low risk of natural disasters pay the lowest rates. Currently, Vermont has the cheapest homeowners insurance rates, at just $914 annually, on average, according to Insurify.
Having enough insurance is vital. Having the appropriate insurance coverage is just as important. To ensure your insurance is suitable for your circumstances, visit Credible to check out plans, providers and costs.
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Major insurers are raising rates in multiple states
Specific insurance companies are raising rates across multiple states. Allstate has implemented rate hikes in Illinois recently, as well as California, New York and New Jersey.
In Illinois, Allstate rolled out a 12.7% increase in rates, the Chicago Tribune Reported. At the end of 2023, the company raised rates in California by 30% on average, while New Jersey saw rates go up by 20% and New York residents’ rates went up by 14.6%, Insurance Business Magazine reported.
State Farm also plans to raise homeowners insurance rates, particularly in Illinois. For new policies opened in March, homebuyers will see rates rise by 12.3%, according to the Chicago Tribune. For renewals, customers won’t see rates rise until May. In terms of dollars and cents, policies will go up by about $138, on average.
If you’re considering switching insurance providers, consider using Credible, where you can get free rates quotes from a variety of companies without affecting your credit score.
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Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba has invested heavily in its fast-growing international business as growth slows for its China-focused Taobao and Tmall business.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
BEIJING — Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba‘s international arm on Wednesday launched an updated version of its artificial intelligence-powered translation tool that, it says, is better than products offered by Google, DeepL and ChatGPT.
That’s based on an assessment of Alibaba International’s new model, Marco MT, by translation benchmark framework Flores, the Chinese company said.
Alibaba’s fast-growing international unit released the AI translation product as an update to one unveiled about a year ago, which it says already has 500,000 merchant users. Sellers based in one country can use the translation tool to create product pages in the language of the target market.
The new version is based only on large language models, allowing it to draw on contextual clues such as culture or industry-specific terms, Kaifu Zhang, vice president of Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group and head of the business’ artificial intelligence initiative, told CNBC in an interview Tuesday.
“The idea is that we want this AI tool to help the bottom line of the merchants, because if the merchants are doing well, the platform will be doing well,” he said.
Large language models power artificial intelligence applications such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which can also translate text. The models, trained on massive amounts of data, can generate humanlike responses to user prompts.
Alibaba’s translation tool is based on its own model called Qwen. The product supports 15 languages: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian.
Zhang said he expects “substantial demand” for the tool from Europe and the Americas. He also expects emerging markets to be a significant area of use.
When users of Alibaba.com — a site for suppliers to sell to businesses — are categorized by country, developing countries account for about half of the top 20 active AI tool users, Zhang said.
Chinese companies have increasingly looked abroad for growth opportunities, especially e-commerce merchants. PDD Holdings‘ Temu, fast fashion seller Shein and ByteDance’s TikTok are among the recent global market entrants. Many China-based merchants also sell on Amazon.com.
Contextual clues
Since Alibaba launched the first version of its AI translation tool last fall, the company said merchants have used it for more than 100 million product listings. Similar to other AI-based services, the basic pricing charges merchants by the amount of translated text.
Zhang declined to share how much the updated version would cost. He said it was included in some service bundles for merchants wanting simple exposure to overseas users.
His thinking is that contextual translation makes it much more likely that consumers decide to buy. He shared an example in which a colloquial Chinese description for a slipper would have turned off English-speaking consumers if it was only translated literally, without getting at the implied meaning.
“The updated translation engine is going to make Double 11 a better experience for consumers because of more authentic expression,” Zhang said, in reference to the Alibaba-led shopping festival that centers on Nov. 11 each year.
Alibaba’s international business includes platforms such as AliExpress and Lazada, which primarily targets Southeast Asia. The international unit reported sales growth of 32% to $4.03 billion in the quarter ended June from a year ago.
That’s in contrast to a 1% year-on-year drop in sales to $15.6 billion for Alibaba’s main Taobao and Tmall e-commerce business, which has focused on China.
The Taobao app is also popular with consumers in Singapore. In September, the app launched an AI-powered English version for users in the country.
Nomura analysts expect that Alibaba’s international revenue slowed slightly to 29% year-on-year growth in the quarter ended September, while operating losses narrowed, according to an Oct. 10 report. Alibaba has yet to announce when it will release quarterly earnings.
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