Insurance is nearly 10% of the average mortgage payment

Ken Coury · 2026-10-28T13:09:08+00:00

Worth flagging from ICE's September Mortgage Monitor: property insurance costs are still up 8.7% year over year, but the pace of growth is slowing sharply — the Q2 quarterly gain (1.8%) was the smallest since ICE started tracking it.The part that caught my eye: borrowers who shopped around and switched carriers cut their premiums by a record 6.6% — and got lower deductibles and more coverage than those who stayed put. Those who didn't switch saw premiums rise 10.4%.Two takeaways from the insurance side:Insurance isn't a footnote in affordability anymore. At 9.6% of the average monthly mortgage payment ($209/month on average, nearly 80% more than at the start of 2020), it's a real line item in whether a payment works.Shopping the policy — not just the price — is what pays. The switchers didn't just pay less; they ended up with better deductible structures and more coverage. That's the difference between chasing the lowest premium and actually improving the policy.For anyone working files where the payment is tight: the insurance line is worth a second look before closing and at renewal. Sometimes the payment problem has an insurance answer.Source: ICE Mortgage Monitor, September 2026 — https://investingnews.com/ice-mortgage-monitor-property-insurance-costs-rise-8-7-annually-but-rate-of-growth-is-sharply-slowing/Curious — are you seeing insurance come up more often in your affordability conversations lately?— Ken

Mortgage News and Market Updates

Insurance is nearly 10% of the average mortgage payment

Posted by Ken Coury on October 28, 2026 at 1:09 pm
Worth flagging from ICE’s September Mortgage Monitor: property insurance costs are still up 8.7% year over year, but the pace of growth is slowing sharply — the Q2 quarterly gain (1.8%) was the smallest since ICE started tracking it.

The part that caught my eye: borrowers who shopped around and switched carriers cut their premiums by a record 6.6% — and got lower deductibles and more coverage than those who stayed put. Those who didn’t switch saw premiums rise 10.4%.

Two takeaways from the insurance side:
1. Insurance isn’t a footnote in affordability anymore. At 9.6% of the average monthly mortgage payment ($209/month on average, nearly 80% more than at the start of 2020), it’s a real line item in whether a payment works.
2. Shopping the policy — not just the price — is what pays. The switchers didn’t just pay less; they ended up with better deductible structures and more coverage. That’s the difference between chasing the lowest premium and actually improving the policy.
For anyone working files where the payment is tight: the insurance line is worth a second look before closing and at renewal. Sometimes the payment problem has an insurance answer.

Source: ICE Mortgage Monitor, September 2026 — https://investingnews.com/ice-mortgage-monitor-property-insurance-costs-rise-8-7-annually-but-rate-of-growth-is-sharply-slowing/

Curious — are you seeing insurance come up more often in your affordability conversations lately?

— Ken

investingnews.com
ICE Mortgage Monitor: Property Insurance Costs Rise 8.7% Annually, but Rate of Growth Is Sharply Slowing
Average annual property insurance costs declined 6.6% among homeowners who switched carriers and rose 10.4% for others Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), one of the world's leading providers of financial market technology and data powering global capital markets, today released … Continue reading
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