Citizens Insurance Rates Drop About 8.8 Percent for Florida Homeowners

Florida homeowners insured through the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corporation are seeing rate reductions, the first broad decrease after years of increases.

State regulators approved a statewide average cut of about 8.8 percent on multiperil policies, which cover the full range of risks, and about 5.5 percent on wind-only policies. The reductions took effect July 1 for new policies and apply to existing policies as they come up for renewal, meaning most policyholders will see the change at their next renewal date rather than immediately.

Some South Florida counties are seeing larger reductions than the statewide average.

Governor Ron DeSantis announced the reductions, attributing them to the stabilization of Florida's insurance market following the insurance and tort changes enacted in recent years.

Separately, the governor signed Senate Bill 1028, which is designed to reduce the size of Citizens by moving more commercial policies into the private market. The bill expands Florida's insurance clearinghouse system and creates mechanisms intended to keep certain commercial residential and commercial nonresidential risks out of Citizens when private coverage is available.

That is the longer-running policy goal behind the rate news. Citizens was created as an insurer of last resort, but grew into one of the largest property insurers in the state as private carriers withdrew. Shrinking it depends on private insurers being willing to write the business, which is why the clearinghouse expansion is the operative part of the new law.

For homeowners, the immediate question is narrower: whether the reduction appears on the next renewal notice, and how it compares with what private carriers in the same market are quoting.

The distinction between the two policy types matters when reading the numbers. Multiperil policies cover the broad range of hazards a homeowner faces, while wind-only policies cover storm damage for properties that carry their other coverage elsewhere, which is a common arrangement in coastal areas. The larger reduction landing on multiperil means the broader policy sees the bigger change.

The renewal timing is the part most likely to cause confusion. Because existing policies change at renewal rather than immediately, two neighbors with the same insurer can see the new rate months apart purely based on when their policies happen to come up.

Larger cuts in some South Florida counties reflect how rate-setting works. Premiums are calculated against local risk and recent loss experience, so the areas that saw the sharpest increases when the market deteriorated are also the ones with the most room to come back down.

Shrinking Citizens is the longer-term objective behind the legislation. An insurer of last resort that becomes one of the largest carriers in the state concentrates risk on a public entity, and a major storm against an oversized Citizens book can trigger assessments that reach policyholders well beyond its own customers.

Whether the strategy works depends on private carriers stepping in. The clearinghouse expansion creates the mechanism to route policies toward private coverage, but it cannot compel companies to write business they consider unprofitable, which is why the rate news and the structural reform are best read together rather than separately.

Sources

https://www.flgov.com/eog/news/press/2026/governor-ron-desantis-announces-major-insurance-rate-relief-floridas-reforms

https://www.myfloridacfo.com/division/ica/propertyinsurancechanges