Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has dropped below 1 million policies in force for the first time since July 2022, a milestone that officials said reflects an ongoing depopulation program and an improving market in the state.
Since January of this year, Citizens, the state-created insurer of last resort that had grown to be the largest property insurance carrier in the state, has transferred almost 20% – more than 400,000 policies – to other carriers in takeouts, Citizens said in a statement.
The Citizens policy count stood at 987,650 at the end of November and is expected to dip to about 900,000 by the end of the year. That’s down from a high of 1.26 million policies in September of this year, and 1.4 million in September 2023.
The last time Citizens’ policy count was below 900,000 was in summer 2022, just as rates for many carriers rose sharply and 10 insurers were deemed insolvent amid Florida’s insurance crisis.
“These are encouraging signs as we continue our efforts to return to our role as Florida’s insurer of last resort,” Tim Cerio, Citizens’ CEO and executive director said in a statement. “As Citizens shrinks, so does the risk of assessments on Floridians who are not Citizens policyholders. This should be welcome news to all.”
The number of Citizens policyholders had ballooned in large part because its own rate increases are limited by law, making it the most affordable carrier in many parts of Florida. Citizens’ leadership and primary market executives have said it’s important to raise Citizens’ premiums and return more policies to a competitive private sector, to encourage more market-based coverage.
This year, that scenario has played out to a large degree as new companies have entered the state and they and others have taken out thousands of Citizens’ policies. Legislative changes in 2022 and 2023 disincentivized excessive claims litigation, a key factor behind several insurers’ financial struggles in recent years.
At the Florida Chamber of Commerce Insurance Summit Wednesday, Citizens’ Virginia Christy said she did not have the latest assumption rate for takeout policies. But a recent report shows that about 35% of takeout offers had been accepted by policyholders in 2023.
Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Co. and State Farm Insurance remain the next-largest carriers in Florida, with more than 500,000 policies in force for each.
Topics Florida
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