Excerpted from Bisnow story.
Now that the winds have slowed down and evacuations have stopped, South Floridians agree: unpredictable Dorian was the most annoying hurricane ever. The near-miss should nudge commercial property owners to get ready for the next storm.
Insurance rates could see a bump following Dorian, said Ryan Cassidy, Franklin Street’s senior director of insurance services. “It’s like gas prices,” he said. “On the commercial side, they look at each other to see what can be charged, and when a catastrophic event happens, [insurers] start jacking the prices.”
In the reinsurance market, rates had fallen for a few years, but because of natural disasters the past two years, rates are expected to rise up to 5% in January, Reuters reports. Standard & Poor’s said rates would likely rise around 5%, while Fitch predicted 1% to 2%.
For commercial property owners, “the biggest thing is checking their policies, even having an outside agent … review the policy, or even a public adjuster, to see if potential gaps could be present,” Cassidy said.
Read more at: https://www.bisnow.com/south-florida/news/economy/hurricane-dorian-commercial-real-estate-100623
