Texas Home Insurance Costs: When the Renewal Means Selling

The renewal notice for a Texas homeowners policy is landing in the same month as the property tax bill, and for a lot of owners the premium is the number they cannot carry. A Dallas-Fort Worth news report on October 5, 2026 said state lawmakers opened a hearing on those costs. This page puts the figures from that hearing next to the later update from the Texas Department of Insurance, and it explains the choice if the premium, a hail claim, or unrepaired storm damage is why you are thinking about selling.

This is general information, not insurance or legal advice. Your declarations page controls your premium, your deductible, and what happens to an open claim. A Texas lawyer can write who keeps unpaid claim money if you sell before the carrier pays.

What the state said this month about premiums

At the House Insurance Committee hearing covered on October 5, 2026, Insurance Commissioner Amanda Crawford said the average Texas homeowners premium rose from under 2,000 dollars in 2020 to over 3,500 dollars in 2026. The same report described that climb as 79 percent. Crawford tied the increase to higher home values and higher repair costs, and she said wind and hail losses in 2025 alone were 5.8 billion dollars, with a large share of those homes in North Texas. The governor has asked the Legislature, which meets next January, to take up the cost of home insurance. None of those statewide sentences changes the renewal sitting on your kitchen table. They only explain why so many of those renewals got so large, so fast, and why a roof that still needs work makes the next quote worse.

A few days later the picture got more careful. TDI said on October 8, 2026 that most homeowners companies filing a rate change since July 1 proposed decreases, affecting about 700,000 policyholders, and that those filings averaged a 4.3 percent decrease. A Houston news report on October 9, 2026 said TDI confirmed the 4.3 percent figure is a simple average of filings, so a small company counts the same as a large one. Several of the biggest insurers had still filed increases. A filing is not your renewal. The bill in your mailbox can go up while a statewide average goes down. If you want the number that decides whether you stay, open the renewal, not the press release.

The statewide average is not your house

TDI's homeowners market overview lists an average annual homeowners premium of 3,489 dollars. That is a statewide figure. It is not a quote. Your price still depends on the age of the house, the roof, the construction, the amount of coverage, the deductible, your claims history, and where the house sits. A hail alley in North Texas is not the same risk as a house far from the last storm, and a coastal county can need a separate wind policy on top of the homeowners policy.

Read the declarations page before you decide the premium is permanent. Look for a separate wind and hail deductible. A higher deductible lowers the premium and raises what you pay after the next storm. Shopping can still help. TDI told owners to compare companies, ask about discounts, and check that the cheapest quote actually meets what a lender requires if a loan is still on the house. None of that shopping changes a roof that is already open to the weather.

Hail damage, an open claim, and a house you cannot insure

Some owners are not staring at a higher premium. They are staring at a roof the carrier will not cover until it is replaced, or at a claim that has been open for months. You can still sell. You do not have to finish the repairs before a buyer will look. Our guide on what to do when you cannot afford home repairs in Texas starts from that money problem. If the damage is from fire or another casualty, our page on selling a fire-damaged house in Texas covers telling the buyer what you know.

Say the claim is still open when you want to sell. Do three things before you sign anything:

• Tell the buyer. The seller disclosure asks what you know. An open hail or wind claim is something you know. Hiding it does not make the premium, or the hole in the roof, go away.
• Ask who keeps unpaid money. If the carrier has not paid yet, the sale can change who receives the check. Do not assume you keep it, and do not assume the buyer takes it. A Texas lawyer can put that sentence in the contract. Ask the adjuster, in writing, what the carrier will do if the house changes hands.
• Keep the policy until closing. Canceling the day you accept an offer leaves you uncovered if the buyer walks away. If the house is vacant while you wait, read our vacant house checklist for Texas owners, because many policies limit coverage after the house sits empty.

A lender on the house may also force-place a policy if yours lapses. That policy protects the lender. It is often more expensive, and it may not cover you the way your old policy did. If force-placed coverage is the bill that broke the budget, selling is one way to end both the premium and the loan at the same closing.

Keeping the house versus selling it

Filing a claim, replacing a roof, or switching carriers can be the right move if you can pay the deductible and you want to stay. Get the contractor's number in writing before you decide the work is impossible. A roof that looks like a total loss is sometimes a repair. The opposite happens too: a small leak the carrier calls maintenance, which you pay yourself.

If the premium plus the deductible plus the taxes is more than the house is worth keeping, the honest comparison is between listing and a cash sale. Listing can bring a higher price if a buyer can get insurance and a loan on the house in its current condition. That is harder when the roof is failing or the carrier has already nonrenewed you. A cash sale skips the buyer's lender and the buyer's insurance approval. It does not skip the title company's questions about the damage. Bring the renewal, the loss history, and any open-claim letters to that conversation so the number is based on the house you actually have.

If the renewal is why you want to sell

You do not have to repair the hail, the roof, or the interior before you ask what a cash buyer would pay. Cash Home Advisors buys houses in Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. You sell as-is, no repairs, and there are no agent commissions. We pay all closing costs.

Asking is free, no obligation, and a real person calls you back. A cash offer is usually less than the house could bring on the open market after repairs, so listing can net more if you have the time and money for it. Request a cash offer, or read how our process works first.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Dallas-Fort Worth news report, Texas home insurance costs skyrocket as lawmakers debate solutions, October 5, 2026
2. Texas Department of Insurance, Home and auto insurance rates trending down for many Texans, October 8, 2026
3. Houston news report, Texas says insurance rates are trending down, October 9, 2026
4. Texas Department of Insurance, Texas homeowners insurance market overview

General information, not legal or tax advice. Talk to a Texas attorney or CPA about your situation.