Growth in costs is highest increase in seven years
LEHI, Utah - United States reconstruction costs grew at the highest annual rate in seven years, according to Xactware's recently released 2014 property report. Reconstruction costs in the United States grew an average of 4.17 percent last year - the largest national year-end increase recorded since 2007. North Dakota led all states, with costs up 7.08 percent in 2014. Washington, D.C., reported the second-highest cost increase of 6.57 percent at year-end. Xactware is a Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK) business.
"Although 2014 was a quiet year for catastrophes overall, severe weather damage from wind, hail, lightning, and tornadoes was at the fourth-highest level in history," said Greg Pyne, Xactware's assistant vice president of Pricing Data Services. "The trend of high damage from severe weather continued to trouble the industry in 2014."
Xactware's 2014 Property Report for the United States documents a multiyear trend of increasing hail damage claims. Between 2012 and 2014, the number of hail damage estimates that Xactware processed rose 186 percent.
"The property industry continues to face rapidly changing conditions," said Jim Loveland, Xactware's president and CEO. "Rising claim severity, more frequent and more severe thunderstorms, and increasing costs are just a few of the trends seen in the 2014 report. The report offers property professionals an edge by helping them identify and respond to trends in 2014 that are likely to continue into 2015 and subsequent years."
About Xactware's 2014 Property Report for the United States
Xactware's in-house team of pricing experts researched, analyzed, and compiled the information contained in the 2014 property report. This team conducted more than 173,000 surveys with material and equipment suppliers and more than 93,000 surveys with repair contractors and service providers during 2014. Xactware also analyzed in excess of 104 million data points from repair and rebuild estimates to tabulate information in the property report.
Visit the Xactware Online Store to order a copy of the 2014 Property Report for the United States.
About Xactware
Xactware specializes in technologies for the property insurance, remodeling, restoration, and mortgage and lending industries. Xactware's tools provide claims estimating, contents replacement, claims management, and property maintenance solutions for desktop, mobile, and online platforms. Xactware's services include repair cost research and reports, aerial imagery, and real-time business intelligence. Xactware has been providing cloud services for customers since 1995. Xactware is a Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK) business. For more information about Xactware's solutions, contact Xactware at 1-800-424-9228 or Xactware.com.
Twitter: Xactware
For media information, please contact:
Jens Dana
801-932-8653
jadana@xactware.com
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