Insurance

If you've been nervous about homeowners insurance rates in Florida, Florida Realtors® just published a very informative article* summarizing the positive shift and overall stability of the homeowners insurance market since the Legislature passed the insurance reform laws in 2022 and 2023. Specifically, the insurance reform laws are bringing the insurance market "back from the brink of collapse" according to the head of Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Citizens, which is Florida''s last resort insurer for those unable to find private insurance, had become the State's largest property insurer in recent years due to the private insurance market's financial problems. However, Citizens is currently seeing policy numbers reduce as they attempt to "depopulate". Florida's leaders want to continue to reduce the number of Citizens' policies partly because of the State's financial risk if major hurricanes hit again. If Citizens cannot cover claims, other policyholders throughout Florida (including potentially non-Citizens policyholders) could be required to pay "assessments" to cover those costs.

However, the number of Florida property owners insured by Citizens is expected to reduce to 907,000 by the end of 2024. As the insurance market gets healthier, Citizens is seeing fewer new policies come in. Additionally, according to a recent report, this past year, "15 insurance companies have made a total of 22 filings for rate decreases and 29 companies have made 42 filings for a zero percent increase this year."

This information is all great news for the insurance market in Florida. Check out the complete Florida Realtors article here:

*Florida Realtors®, Insurance Market Back 'From Brink of Collapse' https://www.floridarealtors.org/news-media/news-articles/2024/12/insurance-market-back-brink-collapse