of U.S. homeowners lawsuits
Florida’s reported share in 2020, compared with 8.8% of claims.
FLORIDA PROPERTY INSURANCE / BUYER BRIEFING
The market changed.
The property still matters.
Florida’s insurance market is showing measurable signs of stabilization after years of steep increases, insurer failures, storm losses, and unusually heavy litigation. For buyers, the evidence is encouraging—and still property-specific.
See what the numbers show01 / THE PLAIN-LANGUAGE VIEW
Florida is moving from crisis toward a more competitive market.
The earlier problem had two major parts: Florida’s exposure to hurricanes and the cost of litigation and claims abuse. Storm risk has not disappeared. The reforms focused mainly on the second pressure, and the market response is now visible.
More carriers are entering the state, litigation has fallen, Citizens’ policy count has declined sharply, and a growing number of insurers have filed for rate decreases or no increase. Those statewide trends do not guarantee a lower quote for every home.
property lawsuit filings
Reported change from 2023 to 2024 after the reforms.
new homeowners carriers
Approved to enter Florida since the legislative changes.
Citizens policies
Reported decline from the 2023 peak to year-end 2025.
02 / WHAT CHANGED
A sequence of reforms changed the cost structure.
These laws did not remove hurricane exposure. They changed the legal and operating environment surrounding property-insurance claims.
The property-insurance rules changed
Special sessions addressed roof claims, assignment of benefits, attorney fees and insurer stability. The December 2022 reforms ended one-way attorney fees in residential and commercial property-insurance cases.
Broader litigation reforms followed
Additional legislation changed attorney-fee and bad-faith rules, while Florida continued programs intended to strengthen homes and insurer capacity.
Implementation and oversight continued
The state refined consumer-protection, claims-handling and regulatory provisions as the earlier reforms moved through the market.
03 / WHAT 2026 RATES SHOW
Rate relief is real, but it is not uniform.
Florida regulators reported that 33 companies had submitted rate-decrease filings by late 2025. The examples below are market indicators, not quotes for a specific home.
| Selected market | Average change |
|---|---|
| Citizens — Broward County2026 approved average | −14.1% |
| Citizens — Miami-Dade County2026 approved average | −14.0% |
| Citizens — Palm Beach County2026 approved average | −11.9% |
| Patriot SelectPrivate-carrier filing reported December 2025 | −11.3% |
| Florida PeninsulaPrivate-carrier filing reported January 2026 | −8.2% |
| Security FirstPrivate-carrier filing reported January 2026 | −8.0% |
| UniversalPrivate-carrier filing reported January 2026 | −5.1% |
IMPORTANT CONTEXT
Some private-carrier reductions are larger than Citizens’ statewide average. Citizens’ highlighted averages in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach were larger than the selected private examples. Percentage change alone does not show which policy has the lower total cost.
04 / WHAT BUYERS SHOULD DO
Make insurance part of the property decision.
The market is healthier, but insurability and cost still vary from home to home. Get the facts while your contract protections are still available.
- ✓01
Start the insurance quote before the inspection period expires.
- ✓02
Give the agent the address, roof age, construction details and available wind-mitigation report.
- ✓03
Compare the total premium, deductibles, exclusions and coverage limits—not just the percentage change.
- ✓04
Ask whether private-market coverage is available before relying on Citizens.
- ✓05
Budget for flood coverage separately; standard homeowners policies do not cover flooding.
05 / PRIMARY SOURCES
Read the underlying reports.
Prepared for general educational use. Rates, coverage and eligibility depend on the insurer, the property and the policy selected. Figures reflect the cited reports and filings available when this page was prepared.
CLEAR INFORMATION. PROPERTY-SPECIFIC ADVICE.