Climate change is driving home insurance costs up by an average of $533 per year per household, with property losses from severe weather accounting for more than 60% of all insured weather damage between 2008 and 2024, far exceeding vehicle losses.
- Personal property losses made up more than 60% of insured severe-weather losses between 2008 and 2024, exceeding commercial and vehicle losses combined.
- Climate change added approximately $533 to average annual home insurance premiums by 2024 compared to 2008, accounting for 54.5% of total premium increases.
- Home and mortgage insurance premiums rose 45% over six years (2019-2025), while passenger vehicle insurance increased 23.9% over the same period.
- Catastrophic losses per home insurance policy rose 11.9% annually between 2008 and 2024, compared to routine losses rising just 1.97% yearly.
- In Q3 2024, Intact Financial reported $723 million in property losses versus $113 million in auto losses from severe weather events.
Climate change is having a larger impact on property insurance than automotive insurance, according to a new report from Environmental Defence Canada.
Alex Walker, energy analytics program manager at Environmental Defence Canada (pictured), personal property made up more than 60% of insured severe-weather losses between 2008 and 2024. That was more than commercial and vehicle losses combined.
The analysis comes from a new report: Mounting Costs: How Climate Change Is Costing You More than $500 Extra Per Year in Home Insurance. Walker based the report on research by University of Toronto assistant professor of economics Jeffrey E. Sun.
“Automobiles have significantly lower replacement costs than properties, so account for a lower share of insured losses,” Walker wrote.
Financial results from two insurers used in Sun’s research show the same gap. In the third quarter of 2024, Intact Financial reported $113 million in Canadian personal-auto catastrophe losses, compared with $723 million in personal-property losses. The quarter included the Calgary hailstorm, Jasper wildfire, heavy rain in Southern Ontario and flooding in Quebec.
A year earlier, Intact reported $53 million in personal-auto catastrophe losses in the third quarter, compared with $391 million in personal-property losses.
The gap can change sharply depending on the type of weather event. In the second quarter of 2026, Intact reported $6 million in Canadian personal-auto catastrophe losses and $252 million in personal-property losses.
Definity Financial reported a similar split during the severe weather of 2024. Its third-quarter catastrophe losses included $17 million from personal auto and $128 million from personal property. Another $4 million in Sonnet Alberta auto catastrophe losses was reported under exited insurance lines.
In the third quarter of 2023, Definity reported $8 million in personal-auto catastrophe losses and $104 million in personal-property losses.
Walker’s main analysis focuses on that larger property insurance burden. Sun found catastrophic losses per Intact home insurance policy rose 11.9% a year between 2008 and 2024. Routine losses rose 1.97% a year.
“Because both types of claims face the same pressures from inflation and rising construction costs, we estimate that any gap in how fast the costs for each type of claim are increasing can be attributed to the worsening impacts of climate change,” Walker wrote.
Walker estimates climate change added $533 to the average annual home insurance premium by 2024 compared with 2008, measured in 2024 dollars. They estimate climate change accounted for 54.5% of the total premium increase over that period.
Despite this, auto insurance costs are still rising. Statistics Canada economist Marisa McGillivray found passenger vehicle insurance premiums increased 23.9% between December 2019 and December 2025. Auto parts, maintenance and repair costs increased 22.6% over the same period.
McGillivray identified higher vehicle prices, theft and repair costs as important pressures on auto insurance. Home and mortgage insurance premiums rose 45% over the same six years.
