Liability policies are included only if they are paid with the fire, hazard, and flood insurance premiums and the amounts for fire, hazard, and flood cannot be separated. Premiums are included even if paid by someone outside the household or remain unpaid. When premiums are paid on other than a yearly basis, the premiums are converted to a yearly basis.

The payment for fire, hazard, and flood insurance is added to payments for real estate taxes, utilities, fuels, and mortgages (both first and junior mortgages and home equity loans) to derive "Selected Monthly Owner Costs" and "Selected Monthly Owner Costs as a Percentage of Household Income in 1989."

A separate question (H23d) determines whether insurance premiums are included in the mortgage payment to the lender(s). This makes it possible to avoid counting these premiums twice in the computations.

Comparability--Data on payment for fire and hazard insurance were collected for the first time in 1980. Flood insurance was not specifically mentioned in the wording of the question in 1980. The question was asked only at owner-occupied one-family houses. Excluded were mobile homes, condominiums, houses with a business or medical office on the property, houses on 10 or more acres, and housing units in multi-unit buildings. In 1990, the question was asked of all one-family owner-occupied houses, including houses on 10 or more acres. It also was asked at mobile homes, condominiums, and one-family houses with a business or medical office on the property.