Louisiana Homeowners See 7.5% Rate Cut for SURE & Elevate Amid Regulatory Reform

Louisiana’s homeowners insurance market is showing early signs of relief, particularly for policyholders with insurers heavily dependent on reinsurance. The approved 7.5% average rate decrease for SURE and Elevate reflects shifts in both cost structure and state regulation: reinsurance premiums are moderating, and regulatory reforms are increasing the state’s appeal to reinsurers. While these changes promise affordability gains, they are uneven—major players like State Farm are still requesting increases, underscoring differing risk exposures and modeling approaches.

Across the board, the change takes effect February 16, 2026 for SURE/Elevate, impacting more than 73,000 homeowners and over 17,000 dwelling policies. [2][3] These firms constitute about 8% of the home insurance market in Louisiana and are structured as reciprocal exchanges under Novel Financial Holdings. [2]

The rate decrease is supported by three main technical adjustments within catastrophe (hurricane) and non-catastrophe perils: a 3.2% drop in the hurricane base rate, 4.6% reduction in the hurricane key factor, and a 1.4% decrease in the factor for all other perils. [2] Lower reinsurance costs have eased pressures from catastrophe-exposed books. [3]

Regulatory and legislative reforms are playing a critical supporting role. In 2024, Louisiana passed legislation repealing the three-year non-renewal rule (HB 611), shifted from a prior-approval to file-and-use rating system (SB 295), and instituted tighter timelines and clearer protocols for catastrophe claims via bad faith reforms (SB 323). [9] Commissioner Temple cites these as consistent requests by reinsurers. [3]

Strategic implications: smaller or reinsurance-exposed insurers may be early beneficiaries of declining external cost pressures. Larger insurers, especially those relying more on internal catastrophe modeling and taking on broader exposure, may continue to see upward rate pressure—State Farm’s recent nearly 10% home insurance rate request is evidence. [5] For policymakers, continued legislative reform, stronger mitigation incentives, and clearer catastrophe claims handling will be essential to convert cost reductions into sustainable affordability for consumers.

Open questions include: whether reinsurance cost declines will persist; how climate change and increasing severity of hurricanes will feed into catastrophe modeling; how homeowner behavior and mitigation incentives will scale; and whether other insurers will follow SURE/Elevate in filing rate decreases rather than increases.