In the United States, most home buyers borrow money in the form of a mortgage loan and the buyer must have homeowners insurance before a lender with grant the loan. While most Americans associate homeownership with the ”American Dream” and the U.S. maintains an above 60 percent homeownership rate, it was not until the 1950s that homeowners insurance was first introduced into the U.S. market. Before then, a homeowner would have had to purchase separate policies covering the various individual perils that could affect a home. Seven forms of homeowners insurance, ranging in name from HO-1 through HO-8, have now become standardized in the U.S., with each offering a different level of protection. The average premium for homeowners insurance in the U.S. currently stands at over a thousand U.S. dollars.
The perils covered by property insurance typically include: home or property loss, theft or damage caused by fire, smoke, wind, ice, hail, snow, or lightning. The total incurred losses for homeowner insurance in the U.S. amounted to over 56 billion U.S. dollars in 2017. Some of the leading writers of homeowners insurance in the U.S. include: State Farm, Allstate, Liberty Mutual and USAA Insurance Group. State Farm is the leading company that provides homeowner insurance in the U.S. with a market share of around 17 percent of the industry in 2017.
In the United States, some “acts of God” events—such as floods, hurricanes, typhoons, and earthquakes—as well as “acts of war” such as terrorism, insurrection or a nuclear attack, are typically excluded from homeowner insurance policies.
