Home insurance bills will be higher in 2025 due to severe weather: experts

In 2025, home insurance rates have risen 5.28 per cent, well above the rate of inflation, according to a report published by My Choice Financial, a Canadian insurance aggregator.

As extreme weather events lead to the largest year on record for insurance claims, home insurance rates are on the rise.

In 2025, home insurance rates have risen 5.28 per cent, well above the rate of inflation, according to a report published by My Choice Financial, a Canadian insurance aggregator and comparison website.

This rise follows the previous year’s increase, when rates rose 7.66 per cent.

While there are several factors, insurance experts say climate change is a major driving force.

“It’s driven historic insured losses across the country. Particularly, we had a very severe single quarter in 2024 where we saw over $7 billion in insured losses in that single quarter last summer,” said Jason Clark, the national director of climate change and federal issues at the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada reports record-breaking losses of $8.5 billion paid out in 2024, triple that seen in 2023, and 12 times the annual average between 2001 and 2010.

Meanwhile, 2024 also surpassed the previous record of $8 billion set in 2016 following the Fort McMurray wildfires in Alberta.

“What we’re seeing is the level of risk across the country is increasing, whether that’s the threat of hurricanes in Atlantic Canada, hailstorms in Alberta, or wildfire across the county. The costliest and most severe event we experience in Canada is flooding,” Clark said.