Florida Citizens’ Rate Increases Way Below Actuaries’ Indications

If insurance actuaries had their way, rates for homeowners insured through Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance would be going up 55.9 percent on average. But there’s a cap on how much state-backed Citizens can raise individual policyholders’ rates in any one year, so the insurer proposes to raise rates by 10.2 percent on average statewide.

The average 10.2 percent increase would apply to multi-peril and wind-only home policies. Citizens wants to raise rates for all condominium policies an average 2.2 percent; dwellings, 9.7 percent; mobile homes, 7.4 percent; and mobile home dwelling, 5.9 percent.

The proposed increases for each line of business are substantially below what actuaries say Citizens needs to be adequately funded. State law requires Citizens to show what actuarially sound rates would be compared with what is allowed under the rate restriction.

The actuarial indication for dwelling policies is a 54.8 percent increase. For condos, the actuarial sound increase would be 20 percent. For all of its business, actuaries determined Citizens needs a 48 percent rate hike to be adequately funded.

Topics Trends Florida Pricing Trends