No, but it is a mistake to buy on the seller’s old premium instead of your own quote. North Carolina has already settled what bureau homeowners rates can do here through the middle of 2027, and the increases are published by territory: 16% then 15.9% on the beach, 10.5% then 10.1% on the eastern coastal mainland, and 5% then 4.8% on the western side.
We hear this question most from buyers moving down from the Northeast or over from Raleigh who have been reading about Florida and California. The fear is reasonable. The answer is that coastal North Carolina is a rated, regulated market with a public number attached to it, and the number is knowable before you write an offer rather than after you close.
Here is what was decided, what it costs by area, what the settlement does not cover, and when you should walk away from a particular house rather than from the coast.
What the state actually decided, and when
In January 2024 the North Carolina Rate Bureau, which files rates on behalf of insurers, asked for an average statewide homeowners increase of 42.2%. On January 17, 2025 the Department of Insurance announced a negotiated settlement instead: an average of 7.5% on June 1, 2025 and another 7.5% on June 1, 2026, a maximum of 35% in any single territory, and a prohibition on the Rate Bureau seeking another increase before June 1, 2027.
Both of those increases have now happened. The second took effect on June 1 of this year. Unless something unusual occurs, the next bureau filing cannot raise rates before June 1, 2027, which is a longer runway of certainty than buyers in most coastal states get.
The averages are not what you pay, though. The Department published a settlement table showing the request and the approved steps for every rating territory, and the coastal numbers are nothing like the statewide 7.5%.
- Territory 120, beach areas of Brunswick, Carteret, New Hanover, Onslow and Pender counties: Rate Bureau requested 99.4%, approved 16% for 2025 and 15.9% for 2026 NC Department of Insurance settlement table, January 17, 2025
- Territory 140, eastern coastal areas of the same five counties, including ZIP codes 28403, 28405, 28409, 28411, 28412, 28428, 28443, 28460, 28461 and 28480: requested 71.4%, approved 10.5% and 10.1% NC Department of Insurance settlement table, January 17, 2025
- Territory 160, western coastal areas, including ZIP codes 28401, 28429, 28451, 28457 and 28479: requested 43%, approved 5% and 4.8% NC Department of Insurance settlement table, January 17, 2025
- Statewide: 7.5% effective June 1, 2025 and 7.5% effective June 1, 2026, capped at 35% in any territory, with no new Rate Bureau filing before June 1, 2027 NC Department of Insurance press release, January 17, 2025
Which territory is your address in
This is the single biggest driver of what a coastal house costs to insure, and it is not a county line. Three different rating territories cut through New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties, and the gap between the best and worst of them is large.
Territory 120 is the beach area. North Carolina defines that term in statute rather than by town line: it is the barrier islands and the oceanfront strip, which is why an oceanfront house and a house a mile inland in the same town can be rated differently. That is the 16% and 15.9% territory.
Territory 140, the eastern coastal area, is most of the mainland people think of as the good side of Wilmington. The ZIP codes the Department published under it include 28403, 28405, 28409, 28411 and 28412, which is Ogden, Porters Neck, Masonboro, Myrtle Grove and the Mayfaire corridor, plus 28443 for Hampstead, 28460 for Surf City and 28461 for Southport. Those took 10.5% and then 10.1%.
Territory 160, the western coastal area, is the Cape Fear River side and inland: 28401 for downtown Wilmington, 28429 for Castle Hayne, 28451 and 28479 for Leland, and 28457 for Rocky Point. Those took 5% and then 4.8%, less than half the eastern coastal step.
Read those ZIP lists as a guide, not as your answer. Several of them, 28428 for Carolina Beach and 28480 for Wrightsville Beach among them, cover postal addresses that include beach-area property rated in territory 120. Your carrier maps the specific parcel using its own filed rules and the statutory beach area definition. Ask your agent to put the rating territory on the quote, not just the premium. Our community guides for Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach cover what else changes when you cross onto the island.
What the settlement does not cap
Three things, and all three are the reason buyers get a surprise.
First, consent to rate. Under North Carolina General Statute 58-36-30, an insurer may charge you more than the approved rate if you sign a written consent, and the notice has to state both the premium at the approved rate and the premium the company wants. That signature is routine on coastal placements, and it means the capped bureau rate is a floor for the market rather than a ceiling on your bill. When you get a quote, look for that notice and ask what the approved-rate premium would have been.
Second, the deductible. Coastal policies here usually carry a separate wind and hail or named-storm deductible expressed as a percentage of the insured value rather than a flat dollar amount. On a $700,000 insured value, a 5% named-storm deductible is $35,000 out of pocket before the policy pays on a hurricane claim. We break that structure down in our coastal homeowners insurance guide, and it matters more to your finances than the premium does.
Third, flood. Homeowners insurance does not cover rising water anywhere in the country. Flood is a separate policy, priced on the elevation and the flood zone of your specific parcel, and in the Special Flood Hazard Areas a federally backed mortgage requires it. Our Wilmington flood zones and flood insurance guide walks through how to pull the determination on an address before you are emotionally attached to the house.
So when is it actually a bad idea
When the insurance number breaks the payment and you only find that out after due diligence ends. We put a real quote into the first two weeks of every coastal purchase our team handles, because the quote is also a condition report: a carrier that wants a four-point inspection, or that quotes only through the NC Beach Plan, is telling you something about the roof, the age of the systems or the exposure.
It is also a bad idea when the premium is the whole thesis. If you are stretching to buy at the beach and the only way the budget works is a 10% deductible and a bare-bones policy, the hurricane that eventually comes will cost you more than the house gained. That is the conversation we would rather have with you in October than in a claim.
And it is a bad idea on a house where the carrier’s own underwriting tells you no. Age of roof, prior claims, open permits and proximity to the water all move a property from standard carriers toward the residual market. When three carriers decline a house, listen to them.
The settlement caps bureau rate changes, not your premium. Beyond consent to rate, individual companies file their own deviations, they can tighten underwriting instead of raising rates, and they can decline to renew a policy on a house whose roof has aged out. The cap also expires: the Rate Bureau is free to file again on June 1, 2027, and given that it asked for 99.4% on the beach and was granted steps of 16% and then 15.9%, nobody should assume the next filing will be modest. If your budget only works at today’s premium with no room, buy inland or buy less house. The western coastal territory step of 5% and 4.8% is one of the quiet reasons buyers who want the coast but not the premium end up in Leland or Castle Hayne.
Related questions people also ask
Does homeowners insurance cover flooding at the beach?
No. A standard homeowners policy excludes flood, which means rising water from storm surge, heavy rain or a swollen creek. Flood coverage is a separate policy, written through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private carrier, priced on the specific parcel rather than the town, and a lender will require it when the property sits in a Special Flood Hazard Area and you are using a federally backed mortgage. Pull the flood determination on the address during due diligence rather than relying on what the neighborhood is generally like.
When can North Carolina home insurance rates go up again?
Under the settlement the Department of Insurance announced on January 17, 2025, the North Carolina Rate Bureau is prohibited from seeking another homeowners increase before June 1, 2027. The two approved steps, 7.5% on average statewide on June 1, 2025 and another 7.5% on June 1, 2026, have both already taken effect. That restriction applies to the Rate Bureau filing, so it does not prevent an individual insurer from changing its own underwriting, declining to renew a policy or charging above the approved rate with your written consent.
Should I get an insurance quote before or after I go under contract?
Get a real quote during the Due Diligence Period, as early in it as you can, and insist on a bound quote rather than an estimate from a rate table. In North Carolina the Due Diligence Period is the window in which you can terminate for any reason, so it is the only time an unworkable premium or a carrier declination costs you nothing but the due diligence fee. Ask for the deductible structure and the rating territory in writing, not just the annual premium.
Pick the specific address you are considering and ask an independent agent for a bound quote with the named-storm deductible and the rating territory stated on it, before your due diligence window is half gone. If the number works, you have removed the biggest unknown in a coastal purchase. Send us the address and we will tell you which territory it falls in, what the last few comparable buyers paid to insure nearby, and whether we would buy it ourselves.
Sources: NC Department of Insurance press release, “Commissioner Causey negotiates settlement on Rate Bureau’s homeowners’ insurance request,” January 17, 2025, read October 5, 2026. NC Department of Insurance, “2024 Proposed Homeowners Insurance Increase Settlement” territory table, territories 120, 140 and 160, read October 5, 2026. North Carolina General Statute 58-36-30, consent to rate. Our coastal homeowners insurance guide and our Wilmington flood zones and flood insurance guide. Our New Hanover County market update, Redfin data for the three months ending August 2026.
