Catastrophic weather-related insurance claims in Canada have risen fivefold since the early 2000s, with 2024 marking the costliest year on record, according to a new Statistics Canada report that underscored mounting pressure on both insurers and homeowners.
The study, released June 16, covers the period from December 2019 to December 2025 and updates an earlier analysis of how extreme weather is reshaping the Canadian home insurance market. Its findings confirm a structural shift that the industry has been grappling with for several years: natural catastrophes are no longer rare events, and the financial consequences are accelerating.
Since 2009, Canadian insurers have paid nearly $2 billion per year on average in catastrophic weather-related claims, up sharply from approximately $400 million annually between 1983 and 2008. Annual insured losses have reached unprecedented levels in recent years, including $3.4 billion in 2022 and $9.4 billion in 2024, the highest figure ever recorded. Four of the last five years now rank among the 10 costliest on record for insured catastrophe losses in Canada.
The premium impact has been significant. Statistics Canada data showed homeowners' insurance premiums in Alberta increased 391.6% from December 2005 to December 2025, the highest increase of any province, with rates jumping 55.8% in Alberta from December 2020 to December 2025 alone, significantly higher than the national average of 38.6% over the same period.
Vehicle insurance premiums also rose 23.9% nationally due in part to extreme weather claims. Rising claims costs are compounded by rebuilding cost inflation: the residential building construction price index rose 69.4% between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the fourth quarter of 2025, while homeowners' maintenance and repair costs rose 19.1% over the same period.
Canada's P&C industry recorded net underwriting losses on home insurance in both 2023 and 2024 due to the volume of weather-related claims, a situation that Canadian P&C brokers have cited as a primary driver of rate increases now flowing through to policyholders at renewal.
Separate research conducted in partnership with the University of Toronto, analyzing data from Intact, found that weather-related insurance claims have risen 11.9% annually since 2008, far outpacing routine claims, which increased just 1.97% per year over the same period. The research estimated that climate change is costing Canadians more than $500 per year in additional home insurance costs as a direct result of worsening climate impacts.
The pressure is not limited to pricing. The Insurance Bureau of Canada has stated that around 10% of Canadian households now face such a high risk of flooding that they cannot obtain flood insurance, and that as a result of increasing risk driven by climate change, some insurers are reducing their coverage or exposure in certain regions. That withdrawal dynamic represents a longer-term availability risk that goes beyond premium affordability.
Liam McGuinty, vice president of federal affairs at the IBC, said the data confirmed what the industry has been observing on the ground. "Natural disasters are reshaping the home insurance landscape for Canadians from coast to coast. The increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events are driving up claims costs and putting pressure on home insurance premiums across the country."
The Statistics Canada report arrives as Canada's long-promised national flood insurance program remains in a state of uncertainty. The federal government pledged $450 million over five years for a national flood insurance program with an April 2026 launch date, but as of April 2026 the federal emergency management minister said she could not promise the program would be delivered in the near future, describing it as "an incredibly complicated discussion."
The IBC confirmed that discussions remain ongoing, with the focus on how a federal backstop would function alongside expanded flood coverage offered by Canada's private home insurance market.
The delay carries consequences beyond the currently uninsured. A February 2025 report from the Canadian Climate Institute concluded that unless precautions are taken to keep new homes from being built in high-risk zones, more than 540,000 homes could be built in flood-prone areas by 2030, adding up to $2 billion in extra damages annually.
The Canadian Climate Institute estimated, in 2026, that $4 billion in annual proactive infrastructure adaptation could yield $5 to $10 billion in avoided costs, underscoring the value of coordinated adaptation investment alongside insurance sector innovation.
The Statistics Canada report also noted that insurers are responding with AI-driven risk pricing models, catastrophe bonds and parametric insurance products, though much of this innovation currently applies to commercial rather than personal lines risks.
The IBC used the report's release to renew its call for action across all levels of government, urging stronger land use planning, investment in resilient infrastructure, tighter building codes and homeowner retrofit incentives.
McGuinty said the path forward requires confronting the underlying problem. "Reducing cost pressures in the home insurance market means confronting the root cause: rising risk. That requires a decisive shift to adaptation, investing in resilience, building in safer ways and locations, and taking action now to curb the growing damage from extreme weather."
IBC data showed insured losses from severe weather events and wildfires totaled $14 billion from 2006 to 2015. From 2016 to 2025, that figure nearly tripled to $37 billion, with the average number of claims almost doubling over the same period.
For an industry absorbing two consecutive years of underwriting losses on personal property lines, the trajectory presents a structural challenge. Premium increases alone will not resolve it.
