The Florida Governor’s Office announced on March 9 that Citizens Property Insurance policyholders in Florida will see statewide premium reductions beginning in spring 2026 at policy renewal, as insurance and tort reforms stabilize the market.
The announcement follows a series of legislative changes aimed at addressing longstanding challenges in Florida’s property insurance system. The reforms are intended to lower costs for homeowners and encourage more insurers to participate in the state’s market.
Florida’s property insurance system has faced years of pressure from high litigation rates, storm risk exposure, and insurer insolvencies. Beginning in 2022, Florida lawmakers and Governor Ron DeSantis enacted sweeping reforms aimed at stabilizing the market, including eliminating one-way attorney fees in most property claims and restricting assignment-of-benefits litigation practices that insurers argued drove excessive lawsuits, according to the Florida Governor’s Press Office.
Before the reforms, Florida accounted for a disproportionate share of property insurance litigation in the United States. According to data cited by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and industry analyses, the state represented roughly 79% of all homeowners insurance lawsuits nationwide in 2019 despite having only about 9% of the country’s homeowner claims. That imbalance was frequently cited by state officials as a key driver of rising premiums and insurer withdrawals from the Florida market. Reform advocates argued that addressing this litigation environment would be essential to restoring competition and stabilizing premiums for homeowners, as reported by industry sources.
Market participation has shown signs of improvement following the reforms. State officials reported that multiple new insurers have entered the Florida property market since the legislative changes were enacted, while depopulation efforts have shifted hundreds of thousands of policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation—the state-backed insurer of last resort—back to private carriers, according to Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation was created by the Florida Legislature in 2002 to provide coverage for homeowners unable to obtain insurance in the private market following a wave of insurer withdrawals after severe hurricane seasons, according to Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.
