Florida Homeowners Insurance Rates Largely Rise Despite Market Reforms and New Entrants
Recent data from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reveals that a majority of Florida homeowners continue to face rising premiums for all-perils single-family home insurance. Among 90 state-regulated residential property insurers, two-thirds of policyholders experienced premium increases between January and May 2025, while only one-third saw decreases. Companies with decreased rates served 1.37 million homeowners, whereas those with increased rates insured 2.77 million. Despite some rate reductions and new market entrants, widespread relief from long-standing high insurance costs remains limited, reflecting nearly a decade of continual rate increases in Florida's home insurance sector.
A South Florida Sun Sentinel survey of Facebook followers corroborates this trend, with most respondents reporting premium hikes, often despite no claims and use of available discounts. Some homeowners with well-maintained properties and no claims history have nonetheless seen significant rate increases, underscoring the persistent affordability challenge.
Among the companies with premium declines, 19 insurers showed average rates decreasing between 0.07% and 16%, including Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, Florida’s state-owned insurer of last resort, which reduced its average premium by 1.7%. Citizens' policy count fell significantly due to efforts to encourage private insurers to insure policies previously held by Citizens. However, private insurers tend to select lower-risk, higher-premium properties from Citizens’ portfolio, leaving Citizens with older, riskier properties.
Conversely, 64 insurers posted premium increases ranging from modest 0.3% to over 60%, reflecting notable variation in market dynamics. Some increases were moderate (up to 10%), while a significant number of companies raised rates between 4% and nearly 9.2%. These increases are attributed in part to inflationary pressures on replacement costs such as construction materials and labor.
Insurance industry stakeholders credit recent legislative reforms in 2022 and 2023 with initiating market stabilization. These reforms altered the legal landscape by reducing incentives to file litigation against insurers and limiting insurers’ obligation to pay plaintiffs’ legal fees beyond initial offers. While these changes have led to new insurer entries and some rate filings for reductions or hold steady requests, premium decreases have been slight and unevenly distributed.
Several insurance agents report that premium reductions are occurring for some homeowners, especially in South Florida where a surge in insurers writing new policies has increased competition. This region, previously seen as highly litigated and hurricane-prone, has benefited from reform-driven litigation declines and fewer storm impacts in recent years. Agents encourage policyholders to shop around as competitive offerings have expanded.
Insurance agents also observe that while base rates may decline, policyholders often face automatic policy adjustments termed "inflation guards" which raise coverage limits to align with inflation, partially offsetting base rate reductions. As a result, nominal base rate cuts do not always translate to lower out-of-pocket premiums.
Agents highlight that premium decreases frequently require switching insurers, with carriers offering discounts for risk mitigation features and demographic-specific incentives such as gated community residency. Several new and returning insurers have re-established presence in South Florida markets previously deemed challenging, enhancing policyholder options.
Overall, while Florida's homeowners insurance market shows signs of gradual stabilization and increased insurer competition post-reform, most policyholders continue to encounter premium pressures driven by underlying inflation and risk segmentation effects. Homeowners seeking reduced premiums are advised to evaluate available options actively within a more dynamic and competitive market environment.