Florida Weighs Citizens' Rate Hikes for High-Risk Accounts

November 10, 2009

Owners of nearly 420,000 high risk properties in Florida could see their insurance premiums rise next year.

State-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has requested an average 7.5 percent hike for homeowners with properties in the highest risk coastal areas, known as High Risk Accounts.

That hike for HRAs is being reviewed by state regulators at a hearing today along with proposed increases for other HRAs including about 45,000 commercial properties. The complete HRA rate hike proposal includes the following increases:

• Homeowners: 7.5 percent
  
• Mobile Homeowners: 11.8 percent
  
• Dwelling Fire: 5.9 percent
  
• Commercial Property Residential: 9.6 percent
  
• Commercial Non-Residential: 9.9 percent
  

Late last month, state regulators approved an average 5.4 percent rate hike in 2010 for homeowners but that did not include HRAs. Also, rates for non-HRA dwelling fire policies will go up 8.8 percent and for mobile homes, 1.7 percent. Rates for condominiums will go up 10.2 percent.

Those increases were the first allowed since lawmakers froze the rates of Citizens three years ago.