Florida’s insurance commissioner said recent rate filings, reduced reinsurance costs and the Citizens Depopulation program are stabilizing the insurance market.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky announced a series of developments in the state’s property insurance market that point to signs of improvement and stability.

Yaworsky highlighted recent rate filings, reduced reinsurance costs and a surge in participation in the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s Depopulation Program among the indicators of positive movement. Also, new property insurer Trident Reciprocal Exchange and national carrier Progressive have affirmed their commitment to Florida, bolstered by the state’s 2023 reforms, he said.

“Today’s announcements are a further indication of the continued strengthening of Florida’s property insurance market,” Yaworsky said. “OIR (Office of Insurance Regulation) will continue to work with Florida-based and national carriers, like Progressive, to recruit and retain business so that all Floridians may benefit from a strong market.”

Among the positive indicators:

Rate filings: The 180-day average request for homeowners’ rates as of August 1, 2024, is 1.2%. Twelve companies have filed a rate decrease to take effect in 2024 and 24 companies have filed a zero percent increase, covering 1.8 million policies in Florida. The current 30-day average rate request for homeowners’ rates is 0.5%. One year ago, the 30-day average rate request was 7.6%.

Market snapshot: As of Q1 2024, there are approximately 7.43 million residential insurance policies in force in the Florida property insurance market. Eighty three percent of those policies are written by admitted property insurers, as opposed to Surplus Lines companies or Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.

Reinsurance: OIR conducts the Annual Reinsurance Data Call (ARDC) to assess insurers’ financial viability in covering catastrophic losses with respect to their catastrophic reinsurance programs. Preliminary results from the 2024 ARDC indicate that the risk-adjusted change in reinsurance cost decreased on average -1.7% from 2023, which is the first decrease in years.

Citizens Property Insurance Depopulation Program: OIR is seeing greater participation and interest in the Citizens Depopulation program. OIR has approved insurers to assume 768,692 policies from Citizens in 2024, an 858% increase since 2022. To date, 132,445 policies have been removed from Citizens and Citizens’ exposure has reduced $64,852,563,061.