FLORIDA – Florida’s once-struggling property insurance market has hit a new milestone: Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is no longer the state’s largest insurer for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
RELATED: Flood insurance will be mandatory for most Citizens policyholders by 2027
The state-backed insurer said this week it has shed more than 900,000 policies after peaking at 1.4 million just two years ago. The shift marks what industry experts are calling a turning point for Florida’s long-troubled property insurance landscape.
Citizens attributes the drop to an aggressive depopulation program that transfers homeowners from the state-run insurer back into the private market.
“What we’ve seen over the course of the last several months is that depopulation program has been very popular,” Citizens spokesperson Michael Peltier said. “In October alone, about 199,000 policies were transferred from Citizens to the private market, to companies that have been vetted by the Office of Insurance Regulation. And so I guess that is a major reason why our policy count’s shrinking.”
Under the program, Citizens policyholders can move to a private insurer if the offered premium is within 20% of their current Citizens rate. Combined with recent legislative changes, the shifts have helped stabilize the state’s property insurance market, officials say — and in many cases, lower consumers’ premiums.
“Private companies are ready, willing and able to come back to Florida,” Peltier said. “With that increased competition, folks are seeing that they have more choices. For example, in October, of the 199,000 policies transferred, about 40% were moved to premiums lower than what people were paying at Citizens.”
Industry analysts say the improvements are significant. Mark Friedlander with the Insurance Information Institute said 17 new insurers have entered the state, creating one of the most competitive markets Florida has seen in years.
“This is the biggest sign we’ve seen thus far to get Citizens down to a manageable level of risk,” Friedlander said. “We no longer have to worry about the so-called hurricane tax that would be a surcharge applied to all Florida consumers.”
Friedlander said the institute projects Florida’s average rate filing change and average premium change will both come in under 1% this year — the second year in a row with the lowest rate changes in the nation.
“Two consecutive years of very strong results for Florida consumers because the market is stabilized,” he said. “Rates have come down, and many companies have been filing for rate decreases.”
Citizens says it has no set target for how many policies it plans to remove through continued depopulation efforts. The company emphasized it remains committed to supporting its existing customers when they need assistance most.