Florida HO Premiums Highest in Nation at $4,200 Average, Triple I Report Shows

A report from the Insurance Information Institute confirms what many Florida homeowners have suspected: Their insurance premiums are some of the highest in the nation.

The annual cost of a Florida homeowners policy this year will jump to $4,231 – almost three times the U.S. average, the Institute said in a new analysis.

“Floridians pay the highest homeowners insurance premiums in the nation for reasons having little to do with their exposure to hurricanes,” Sean Kevelighan, CEO of the Institute, said in a news release. “Floridians are seeing homeowners insurance become costlier and scarcer because for years the state has been the home of too much litigation and too many fraudulent roof replacement schemes.”

Just two years ago, the typical Florida homeowner paid $2,505 in annual premiums, according to data from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the Institute’s estimates of replacement and rising material costs.

In recent years, though, Florida has been besieged by fraudulent roof claims, extreme amounts of claims litigation, insurer insolvencies, suspension of new business by 10 property insurers, and multiple rate hikes, all of which have contributed to soaring premiums and a Florida market near collapse, Triple-I and a number of insurance industry leaders have said.

Meanwhile, residents continue to move to Florida, which could put more stress on housing markets, reports suggest. The 2022 hurricane season also is predicted to bring an above-average level of storm activity, which some have predicted could push more insurers out of the Florida market.

“With its overabundance of unneeded new roofs on homes, and flashy lawyer billboards at every turn claiming massive settlements on claims, Florida’s insurance market is on the verge of failure,” the Institute said.

Topics Florida