California

California's insurer of last resort is careening toward another hot and dry summer with its coffers already strained. That's raising the prospect that state residents will need to pick up the bill for more funds.

Wall Street brokers have started selling insurers' claims tied to Los Angeles' deadly wildfires, which may trigger a payout from the utilities blamed for the destruction, according to people familiar with the matter.

While the 22% average increase for homeowners insurance is provisionally approved by California's regulator, the carrier will have to get capital from its parent company to help cover its risks.

Estimates for the financial toll of the blazes range from $30 billion to as high as $250 billion, as homeowners grapple with premium hikes and non-renewals.

The scope of the disaster depends on whether it's insured losses, property damage or overall economic impact.

Fremont, a Bay Area city of 226,000, in September became the first municipality in the nation to buy its own citywide flood insurance policy.

Many homes that burned in the Eaton Fire lay outside the boundaries of state- or local-designated "very high" fire hazard severity zones, Bloomberg Green found after analyzing inspection reports by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, for more than 20,000 residential properties in areas affected by the recent wildfires.

Wildfire presents a significant challenge to California's property insurance market, and the impact is becoming more frequent and costly over time. Recently, we examined the current state of the California (CA) homeowners insurance market by exploring key components of the ecosystem, including the role of regulators, the CA FAIR Plan, and the involvement of the surplus lines markets, as well as current developments and potential implications of the fires in Los Angeles.

State Farm's "emergency" rate increase request was rejected by California's insurance commissioner.

Initial property losses from Eaton and Palisades fires estimated between $35 billion and $45 billion.