Homeowners paying highest share for insurance on record
The average annual cost of property insurance for U.S. mortgage holders is now about $2,370 — roughly a 9.6% share of what owners pay monthly for their home loan, according to the Intercontinental Exchange's September Mortgage Monitor report.
"This marks the highest share on record and underscores the disproportionate role insurance costs are playing in rising homeownership expenses," the housing data clearinghouse said in its report.
The report — released Monday — also noted that Florida saw a drop in the number of homeowners covered by insurance-of-last-resort plans, while the number of customers with those types of policies is at record highs this year in California and North Carolina.
"Property insurance costs continue to be the fastest growing subcomponent of mortgage payments among existing homeowners," Andy Walden, head of mortgage and housing market research at Intercontinental Exchange, said in a statement. "While mortgage principal, interest and property tax payments have all increased in recent years, insurance has far outpaced those gains, rising 4.9% in 2025, 11.3% annually and nearly 70% over the past five and a half years. That rapid escalation now means insurance alone consumes almost one in every ten dollars spent on average mortgage-related costs."
Optimism about the job market declines
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released its August survey of consumer expectations on Monday, and it appears that optimism about the job market is waning.
Those Americans polled said the probability of finding a new job if they lose their current one is 44.9% — a 5.8 percentage point dip from July. The percentage is also "the lowest reading since the start of the series in June 2013," Fed researchers said.
"The decline was broad-based across age, education, and income groups, but it was most pronounced for those with at most a high school education," the Fed said.
The Fed conducts this online survey every month by polling about 1,300 heads of household across the nation. The survey asks Americans for their predictions on aspects of the economy, including the job market, inflation, and household finances.
In the survey, consumers also said they expect median home price growth to be 3% — the same increase they have been expecting since June.
"This series has been moving in a narrow range between 3% and 3.3% since August 2023," Fed researchers said.
Looking for the nation's youngest homeowners? Head West.
Salt Lake City; Austin, Texas; and Oklahoma City are home to America's youngest homeowners, a recent LendingTree study found.
Using 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data, LendingTree looked at the average age of homeowners and renters across the nation's 50 largest metropolitan areas. All told, among those 50, the average homeowner's age is 50 or 51, the study found.
However, the average homeowner is 48 in Salt Lake City, Austin and Oklahoma City, the study concluded. Los Angeles, San Diego, and Miami have the oldest homeowners among the metropolitan areas examined — at 54, 53, and 53, respectively.
"This report is further proof of just how dramatically housing costs can vary from one city to the next," Matt Schulz, the website's chief consumer finance analyst, said in a statement. "Location, location, location may be the oldest cliché in real estate, but it’s as true today as ever. Being flexible about where you buy can be the difference between homeownership staying a pipe dream and becoming a reality."
