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Florida / Market briefing

Florida’s Homeowners Insurance Market:
Are the Reforms Working? Beta

An assessment of market recovery, household costs and the next steps for policy.

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is Florida’s public insurer of last resort. It provides property insurance to eligible owners who cannot obtain qualifying private coverage. Its role matters beyond its own customers: severe losses can lead to additional charges on Citizens policies and certain other insurance policies across Florida.

Florida’s reforms sought to restore private coverage, reduce excessive litigation, shrink Citizens, improve affordability and support reinsurance. Private insurers have taken over hundreds of thousands of Citizens policies. Insurer financial results have improved, and Florida’s share of nationwide homeowners lawsuits has fallen. Household costs have recovered less: average premiums remain above their 2022 level after inflation.

This brief evaluates those five primary goals and recommends what should happen next. Sections 1–6 explain the evidence; the scorecard in Section 7 assesses progress, and Section 8 recommends a clear plan for Citizens, better use of existing home improvement funding and protection of the core litigation reforms.

Policies remaining at Citizens

Personal residential and commercial policies, August 31, 2026.

Insured value remaining
August 31, 2026
Policy count change
vs Sept. 30, 2023 peak

Insured property value has fallen by $543.3 billion since the September 2023 peak. A smaller book does not by itself establish a proportional reduction in loss risk.

01 / Citizens’ shrinking role

Citizens’ shrinking role

Fewer policies remain with the public insurer

Figure 1 Policies in force at Citizens, the state insurer of last resort
Month-end policies in force, not homes.

Citizens had 266,231 policies at August 31, 2026, down 81.1 percent from the September 2023 monthly peak.

Private insurers have assumed policies through Citizens’ depopulation program, reducing the public insurer’s role. Its portfolio of policies is sometimes called its “book.”

Latest snapshot: Citizens reports 254,736 policies as of October 2, 2026. This weekly count is separate from the August 31 monthly data used in the chart and insured-value comparisons. Citizens policy counts.

Month: -11,965 policies (-4.3%) vs Jul 2026 Year: -505,685 policies (-65.5%) vs Aug 2025 Since peak: -1,141,574 policies (-81.1%) vs Sep 2023

The August total includes 262,006 personal residential policies and 4,225 commercial policies. The shaded band marks the 2022 and 2023 reform statutes. The chart counts insurance policies, which need not correspond one for one with homes.

Why transfers produced a larger decline in 2025

A “takeout” transfers a Citizens policy to a private insurer. Transfers do not automatically shrink Citizens by the same amount: new policies can arrive while others are cancelled or leave for other reasons. The table separates transfers from the combined effect of those other movements. In 2023, they more than offset transfers; by 2025, they offset only a small part.
Period Transferred to private insurers Overall policy change Other net policy growth Other net growth per 100 transfers
2023275,324Grew by 82,907358,231130
2024477,821Shrank by 292,536185,28539
2025585,432Shrank by 540,84544,5878

Read the last column as the amount of net growth from other policy movements for every 100 policies transferred to private insurers. A value above 100 means Citizens grew despite those transfers.

Figure 2 Other net policy growth per 100 transfers

Transfers translated into a larger decline in Citizens as other net policy growth slowed.

For every 100 policies transferred in 2025, other movements added only about eight policies on net. That explains why transfers translated into a much larger reduction in Citizens than in 2023. The measure combines new business with cancellations and other departures; it is not the number of newly issued policies.

02 / Risk in the remaining policies

Risk in the remaining policies

Citizens’ modeled annual catastrophe losses fell 70 percent between December 2023 and June 2026, while its policy count fell 77 percent. The smaller portfolio therefore has a higher modeled loss per policy in these reports. This makes the remaining risk important to monitor, even as Citizens insures fewer properties.

Fewer policies, but modeled risk fell more slowly

The comparison uses different versions of catastrophe modeling software, so it cannot establish that riskier properties were left behind. That possibility is called adverse selection.

-77%Policy count-70%Modeled annual loss+34%Modeled annual loss per policy
Reported snapshots and calculated loss intensity
Report datePoliciesInsured value ($ million)Modeled annual loss ($ million)Annual loss per policy ($)Annual loss per $1,000 insured ($)
Dec 20231,228,718552,7609607811.74
Dec 2024936,182385,8228198752.12
Dec 2025395,337128,4823849712.99
Mar 2026321,95797,7493401,0563.48
Jun 2026278,24679,6452911,0463.65

OIR, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, found minimal differences in 2023–2025 loss ratios between policies retained by Citizens and policies transferred to private insurers. A loss ratio compares claims costs with premiums. That finding does not support a simple claim that transfers left Citizens with worse policies. OIR order, page 5, paragraph 10.

03 / Insurer financial recovery

Insurer financial recovery

Stronger insurer finances can help sustain coverage, but they are a different question from what households pay. The charts below distinguish private insurers’ operating costs from Citizens’ own profits. Reinsurance, insurance that reimburses an insurer for agreed losses, is one of the costs of providing that coverage.

Are insurers’ finances improving?

Figure 3 Reported combined ratio, Florida domestic insurers

Florida domestic insurers’ reported combined ratio improved from 116 percent in 2020 to 83 percent in 2025.

The combined ratio adds claims and operating expenses relative to premiums. Lower values generally indicate stronger insurance operations. Because its components use different premium bases, 83 percent should not be read as a 17 percent profit margin.

Figure 4 Citizens’ full-year results: insurance operations and total net income

Citizens’ insurance operations returned to profit, with investment and other income adding to the total.

For the full year 2025, Citizens earned $639.2 million from insurance operations. Adding investment and other income brings total net income to $979.2 million. Its underwriting margin, the profit from insurance operations relative to net earned premiums, improved from -16.5 percent in 2021 to +37.3 percent in 2025. Storm claims, changes in insured properties and revisions to estimated costs of earlier claims can all affect the result. Those revisions are called reserve development.

Citizens’ first-half results: January–June

Unaudited results for the six months ended June 30. These interim figures are separate from the annual history above and do not represent a full hurricane season.

USD millionsJan–Jun 2025Jan–Jun 2026
Underwriting gain561.4159.7
Total net income740.1298.4

Citizens remained profitable, but both measures were lower than in the same period of 2025. Underwriting gain measures insurance operations; net income also includes investment and other income.

Source: Citizens, first-half 2026 unaudited financial statements, page 2, posted for the September 23 board meeting.

More insurers approved to offer residential coverage

OIR reported 21 newly approved residential insurers in July 2026. More than $850 million of new capital had been committed when the twentieth entrant was announced on May 20. Approval allows an insurer to offer coverage; it does not tell us how many policies it has sold.

In Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, the number of insurers offering condominium associations coverage specifically for wind damage grew from one to five. The announcement does not establish whether every company was new to Florida or whether existing companies expanded or changed their products.

Citizens also secured a $600 million catastrophe bond, Everglades Re II 2026-1, a third larger than first planned. These bonds draw on investor funds to absorb covered disaster losses. Investors accepted a lower return than initially indicated, reducing the cost of this protection for Citizens.

Sources: OIR Stability Report, July 1, 2026 (21 approved residential insurers); OIR, May 20, 2026 (more than $850 million as of the twentieth entrant, and condominium writers); Artemis, May 13, 2026 (catastrophe bond pricing).

04 / Can Citizens withstand a major hurricane?

Can Citizens withstand a major hurricane?

In Citizens’ September model, a 1-in-100 storm would use about $1.49 billion of surplus after applicable insurance recoveries. That is approximately 27 percent of projected surplus, leaving about 73 percent.

Figure 5Surplus remaining after a modeled 1-in-100 storm

About 27% used to pay retained losses. About 73% remains.

For every $100 of projected surplus, Citizens estimates it would use about $27 and retain about $73. This is the impact on its financial cushion, not the division of total storm damage.

Source: Citizens, September 23, 2026 risk-transfer layer chart, pages 2–3. Remaining share calculated as 100% minus the reported approximate 27% exposed.

Who pays the claims?

Private reinsurers and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund reimburse covered losses under their terms. Citizens pays the losses it retains from its own resources. The $1.49 billion estimate is that retained surplus cost, not the entire storm loss.

September model and programAmount
Citizens surplus used in the modeled 1-in-100 stormAbout $1.49 billion
Total private risk-transfer program$2.82 billion
Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund coverage shown$1.17 billion

Coverage amounts describe the program, not an exact payout split for this storm. Recoveries depend on loss layers and contract terms; they are not necessarily available immediately. Do not add these amounts to infer a total storm loss.

What would remain after a major storm?

Citizens estimates the remaining surplus could fund a modeled 1-in-69 event, additional claims-handling expenses, or multiple smaller storms. Actual losses and recoveries determine whether additional charges to policyholders are needed.

Separately, Citizens reported $5.45 billion in surplus at June 30, 2026 (unaudited). The storm model uses projected 2026 surplus. Its percentages should not be applied to the June reported balance.

Reported balance: Citizens first-half financial results, page 1 ($5,454,766,000).

A 1-in-100 loss has a 1% annual probability of being exceeded. It covers Citizens’ modeled insured losses, not all hurricane damage in Florida. The September model uses June 30 exposures projected to September 30, includes demand surge and 10% for loss adjustment expenses, excludes storm surge, and uses preliminary Catastrophe Fund terms. These estimates do not establish a board decision or guarantee protection against assessments.

Model and assumptions: Citizens September layer chart, pages 2–3. How Citizens assessments work.

05 / What homeowners pay

What homeowners pay

What is HO-3? HO-3, also called the “Special Form,” is a common homeowners insurance policy. It generally covers the home’s structure against causes of damage unless the policy specifically excludes them; belongings are typically covered against listed causes of loss. Coverage remains subject to the policy’s terms, limits and deductibles. Florida DFS explains the policy forms.

September update: four insurers approved to reduce rates

On September 22, OIR announced approved rate decreases affecting more than 62,000 policies. The reductions take effect at renewal.

InsurerRate decreasePolicies affected
One Alliance North America10.4%17,148
Safe Harbor4.1%10,501
Unique3.2%8,266
Vyrd10.4%26,751

These are insurer rate changes reported by OIR, not a statewide average or a guarantee that each household’s premium falls by the same percentage. Coverage, property characteristics and other policy changes can affect the renewal bill. The county comparison below ends in March 2026.

Source: Florida OIR, September 22, 2026.

Where are premiums changing?

Some policies include wind damage, while others exclude it or provide wind coverage separately. That distinction matters when comparing what homeowners pay. The map compares the average annual premiums reported for each group, not two quotes for the same property. Select a county to see its figures.

Figure 6 Insurance premiums by county, September 2025 to March 2026

Premiums fell in 51 of 67 counties between the September 30, 2025 and March 31, 2026 reports. The median county was down $14.

This is a six-month comparison of reporting dates. See the expected next release and annual-comparison timing.

Okaloosa Glades Desoto Dixie Martin Hardee Bay Flagler Orange Walton Pasco St. Lucie Washington Sumter Palm Beach Alachua Lafayette Okeechobee Hernando Charlotte Lee Lake Suwannee Levy Nassau Madison Columbia Calhoun Citrus Franklin Gadsden Gulf Jefferson Pinellas Clay Santa Rosa Seminole Volusia Monroe St. Johns Osceola Sarasota Gilchrist Hendry Highlands Indian River Manatee Union Duval Wakulla Jackson Leon Escambia Miami-Dade Bradford Taylor Broward Polk Brevard Hamilton Collier Baker Liberty Holmes Putnam Marion Hillsborough
Hatched counties: the without-wind group has a higher average premium. Select either county to see its values.

Tap or hover a county

Average premium, Mar 2026 
Change since Sept 2025 
Average without wind coverage 
Relative difference between policy groups 
Statewide rank, most expensive 
Homeowners policies including wind, from the state's county averages. Averages can change because prices change or because different homes and policies enter the group, including transfers from Citizens. An individual renewal can differ from the county trend.
Premium change. The largest declines came in Indian River (−$119), Martin (−$94), Palm Beach (−$89), and Broward (−$84); sixteen counties rose, led by Gilchrist (+$35) and Monroe (+$34). These observations end in March 2026, before the July 2026 Citizens rate cuts. Sources: OIR Property Insurance Stability Report, Jan 1, 2026 (county averages as of Sep 30, 2025) and Jul 1, 2026 (county averages as of Mar 31, 2026). County boundaries: US Census Bureau, via the us-atlas project. Calculation: Pioneer Institute. Source id: SRC-FL-01.

Average premium and cost per $100,000 of coverage

Premium growth after inflation

June 2022 to June 2026, matching the Q2 insurance snapshots.

MeasureChange over the same four years
Average annual premium, nominal+31.3%
General consumer prices, U.S. CPI-U+12.7%
Average premium, inflation-adjusted+16.5%

The June 2026 premium of $3,675 equals approximately $3,261 in June 2022 dollars, versus $2,798 then. This comparison shows that premium growth exceeded the increase in general consumer prices over the same four years.

Adjusted using U.S. CPI-U. Changes in coverage and policy mix mean this is not a same-home renewal comparison.

Figure 7 Average premium and premium per $100,000 of insured value
Admitted owner-occupied homeowners policies, excluding wind-only.

From Q2 2022 to Q2 2026, average premiums rose 31.3 percent, while the cost per $100,000 of insured value rose 3.4 percent.

Among homeowners policies from insurers licensed in Florida, the average annual premium rose from $2,798 to $3,675. The premium peaked at $3,748 in Q3 2025 and by Q2 2026 was about 2 percent lower. Over the same four years, annual premium per $100,000 of insured value rose from $459 to $475, or 3.4 percent. Insured value per policy rose about 27 percent, helping explain why the total premium grew faster than the cost per unit of coverage.

7a · The average annual premium, statewide, all admitted insurers
7b · The yearly cost of each $100,000 of home coverage: admitted owner-occupied homeowners policies

By Q2 2026, premium per $100,000 insured was 2.9 percent below its Q3 2023 value. These are averages across changing groups of policies. Changes in deductibles, locations, coverage and insured properties can affect the trend.

How the bill can rise without a higher price per dollar insured

At $500 per $100,000 of coverage, insuring $500,000 costs $2,500 a year. Insuring $650,000 at that same rate costs $3,250.

The annual bill rises 30% because the amount insured rises 30%. The homeowner still pays more, even though the price per dollar of coverage is unchanged.

Illustrative example, not an actual policy or quote.

06 / Changes in insurance lawsuits

Changes in insurance lawsuits

What changed in the law?

December 2022 property-insurance reforms:

  • Attorney fees: Removed automatic statutory fee recovery for policyholders who win property-insurance suits.
  • Assignment of benefits: Barred transferring post-loss benefits to contractors or other third parties under policies issued from January 1, 2023.
  • Bad faith: Required a court judgment finding a contract breach before the specified property-insurance bad-faith suit.

March 2023 civil-litigation reforms: Broadened attorney-fee restrictions, changed bad-faith standards and shortened the general negligence filing period. The negligence deadline is separate from insurance-contract claims.

Sources: SB 2-A and HB 837. Application depends on policy and claim dates.

Figure 8Reported litigation rates are lower for newer loss years
Percentage of reported closed HO-3 (Special Form homeowners policy) claims involving litigation, by loss year.

Reported litigation percentages are lower for newer loss years, which have had less time to develop.

For losses occurring in 2022 versus 2025, the reported litigation percentage fell from 8.9 percent to 1.3 percent statewide, and from 24.1 percent to 2.0 percent in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

  • South Florida tri-county
  • Florida statewide
Reported closed HO3 claims involving litigation, by loss yearStatewide: 8.9%, 6.4%, 2.8%, 1.3%. South Florida tri-county: 24.1%, 13.1%, 7.9%, 2.0%, for loss years 2022 through 2025. Newer loss years are less mature.0%5%10%15%20%25%30%8.9%6.4%2.8%1.3%24.1%13.1%7.9%2.0%2022202320242025

South Florida tri-county comprises Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach. The statewide series includes these three counties.

Read by loss year: The year identifies when the loss occurred, not when the lawsuit was filed or the claim closed. Newer losses have had less time to develop into litigation and close. These are reported closed-claim percentages, not final lifetime litigation rates; the comparison does not isolate the reforms’ effect.

View data
Reported closed HO3 claims involving litigation (%)
Loss yearFlorida statewideSouth Florida tri-county
20228.9%24.1%
20236.4%13.1%
20242.8%7.9%
20251.3%2.0%

Source: OIR July 2026 Property Insurance Stability Report, printed page 14, Property Claims Lifecycle Report. HO3 is a homeowners policy form; these figures do not cover every property insurance product.

Supporting context: Florida’s share of U.S. lawsuits

Figure 9 Florida's share of nationwide homeowners lawsuits versus its share of homeowners claims Preliminary 2025
Share of U.S. lawsuits and claims, not the percentage of claims litigated. By reporting year.

Florida’s share of nationwide homeowners insurance lawsuits fell from 73.2 percent in 2024 to a preliminary 41.3 percent in 2025.

Its share of claims was 4.9 percent in 2025. The gap remains large, but the latest lawsuit share is the lowest in this series.

Why 2023 needs special care

Attorneys accelerated civil filings before HB 837 took effect on March 24, 2023 to seek treatment under the earlier law. That surge complicates year-to-year comparisons, so the discussion emphasizes the change from 2024 to 2025 rather than treating 2023 as a normal baseline.

For longer context, Florida’s lawsuit share was 70.8 percent in 2022, or 29.5 percentage points above the preliminary 2025 figure. The 2024-to-2025 decline was 31.9 percentage points. These are changes in Florida’s share of a national total, not changes in the number of lawsuits filed.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners collects the Market Conduct Annual Statement (MCAS), which supplies the claims and lawsuit totals used here. Claims and lawsuits reported in the same year can concern different losses. OIR’s July 2026 report also shows defense and cost containment expense per claim falling from $947 in 2022 to $720 in 2025, using the restated annual statement figures. OIR July 2026 report.

07 / Reform scorecard

Reform scorecard

The evidence shows the clearest progress in reducing Citizens’ size, with a less complete recovery in household affordability. These grades are Pioneer’s qualitative assessment of progress toward five policy goals, rather than estimates of the laws’ causal effects.

Five major objectives

Grades summarize the findings above. Each objective links to the supporting evidence.

Original objectiveGradeNotes
1. Restore access to private market coverageB+New insurer approvals and capital commitments indicate improved access. The next test is whether those insurers sustain coverage through renewals and severe storms.
2. Reduce excessive litigationB+Florida’s lawsuit share fell sharply in preliminary 2025 data, but remains much higher than its share of claims.
3. Return Citizens to its residual roleACitizens’ policy count and insured value fell substantially, bringing it closer to its role as an insurer of last resort.
4. Affordable coverage for householdsC+Recent premium declines offer relief, but average costs remain above 2022 levels after general inflation.
5. Bridge the reinsurance shortageB+Citizens secured hurricane protection and reported improved pricing. Temporary state programs supported reinsurance availability, but their individual contributions require further evaluation.

The Reinsurance to Assist Policyholders (RAP) program and Florida Optional Reinsurance Assistance (FORA) program provided temporary state support for reinsurance. The administering agency explains the programs.

Through June 30, 2026, RAP had reimbursed insurers $751.2 million for Hurricane Ian losses and $6.0 million for Hurricane Idalia losses. These payments document assistance to participating insurers, not measured savings on homeowners’ premiums. Citizens was excluded from RAP participation. SBA RAP report, July 31, 2026, printed pages 1, 3 and 4.

08 / Policy recommendations

Policy recommendations

1. Define Citizens’ long-term role and footprint

Use Citizens’ shrinking footprint to establish a clear target for its size, risk profile, and operating model. Set benchmarks for policy count, geographic concentration, and staffing so its operations scale with its responsibilities. Include a phased wind-down plan if private insurers can sustainably serve the remaining policyholders.

Why this matters: Citizens’ policy count has fallen sharply, while modeled loss per remaining policy has risen across the reported snapshots; its future role needs to account for both size and risk.

2. Tie mitigation grants to a path into private coverage

Within program eligibility rules and available funding, prioritize improvements that participating private insurers identify as likely to make Citizens homes insurable. Connect completed work to private coverage offers, then track premiums and whether households remain privately insured after 12 and 24 months.

Why this matters: Average premiums remain above their 2022 level, making the cost of private coverage an important consideration when helping households leave Citizens.

3. Preserve the core litigation reforms and measure homeowner outcomes

Retain the repeal of one-way attorney fees in property-insurance suits and the prohibition on post-loss assignments of benefits for covered policies. Evaluate results through litigation costs, claim-payment speed, complaints, coverage availability and premiums.

Why this matters: Reported litigation percentages are lower for newer loss years, but those years are less mature, so continued monitoring is needed to judge whether the improvement lasts.

09 / Sources and methods

Sources and methods

Each entry below contains the calculations and reporting qualifications for its figure or table. Return links lead back to the exhibit. The source library follows for readers who want the underlying documents.

Methods by figure

Open an exhibit’s notes for its calculations, source links and interpretation.

Figure 1: Citizens policy count and insured value

The chart uses reports on policies in force at the end of each month. Its peak is September 30, 2023. Citizens separately describes a weekly peak of about 1.41 million policies in early October 2023. These are different reporting intervals, rather than conflicting observations. Citizens’ description of its weekly peak.

Exposure removed and change in size
exposure removed = $618,104,511,066 - $74,805,361,557 = $543,299,149,509 exposure change = -543,299,149,509 / 618,104,511,066 x 100 = -87.90% policies change = (266,231 - 1,407,805) / 1,407,805 x 100 = -81.09%
Result: $543.3 billion reduction in insured value on Citizens’ books (87.9 percent); policies down 81.1 percent. This does not mean Florida’s physical catastrophe risk disappeared.

Return to the exhibit

Across Citizens’ different portfolios at the two dates, annual premium per $100,000 of insured value rose from $782 to $931, up 19.1 percent. Those amounts are for one year of coverage. They do not follow the same properties through time.

Remaining Citizens insured value is $74.8 billion, down 87.9 percent from the September 2023 month-end peak of $618.1 billion. Citizens has 266,231 policies in force as of August 31, 2026, a change of −81.1% from the September 2023 peak of 1,407,805 .

Source: Citizens exposure filings (monthly Detail reports); Pioneer calculation. Peak vintage: Citizens Policies in Force, Sept. 30, 2023.

Figure 2: Transfers and other policy movements
Net other movement and the takeout ratio
net change = policies(end) - policies(start) net other movement = net change + gross takeouts per 100 = net other movement / gross takeouts x 100 2023 net +82,907 + 275,324 = 358,231 -> 130 per 100 2024 net -292,536 + 477,821 = 185,285 -> 39 per 100 2025 net -540,845 + 585,432 = 44,587 -> 8 per 100
Result: the residual reconciles the table by construction. It does not independently validate any input or measure gross new business.
Inputs: Citizens month-end Policies in Force; gross takeouts from Citizens depopulation filings. The October 2, 2026 review incorporates Citizens’ revised December 2022 month-end count of 1,145,811, two policies above the earlier published figure. The revision changes the 2023 net change and other net movement by two policies; the rounded per-100 ratio is unchanged.

Return to the exhibit

Remaining risk: model snapshots
Annual loss per policy = modeled annual loss in millions × 1,000,000 ÷ policies Annual loss per $1,000 insured = modeled annual loss in millions ÷ insured value in millions × 1,000 Change = (last value ÷ first value − 1) × 100

Ratios use the report’s rounded totals. Adding rounded components can produce a slightly different result from rounding the original total. They describe portfolio averages, not an individual policy’s expected claim. Property mix, coverage and model changes can affect them. Neither ratio isolates adverse selection or Citizens’ retained losses after reinsurance.

Return to the risk table and sources

Citizens March 2026 Business Overview and June 2026 Business Overview, printed pages 6, 8 and 28 (PDF pages 9, 11 and 34). Annual loss means expected catastrophe loss over a full year at each book snapshot, not losses during that quarter. Totals exclude takeouts; catastrophe results also exclude Commercial Inland Wind.

The 2023 estimates use AIR Touchstone version 10, the 2024 estimates version 11.5 and the 2025 estimates version 13. AIR Touchstone is software used to estimate catastrophe losses. The quarterly 2026 reports do not separately identify their model versions. “Annual loss” means expected losses over a full year for the policies insured at that report date, not actual claims in the quarter.

Figure 3: Combined ratio
OIR reports a pooled combined ratio of 116 percent in 2020, 99 percent in 2023 and 83 percent in 2025. This ratio is not the same measure as dollar underwriting income: OIR's 2023 chart still shows an underwriting loss. Differences in the premium bases used for component ratios matter. The series does not establish household rate relief or isolate the effect of legislation. Source: OIR press release, May 20, 2026; OIR Stability Report, Jul 1, 2026. Source id: SRC-FL-02 for the Citizens book; OIR for the market combined ratio.

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Figure 4: Citizens financial results
Statutory accounting basis, from Citizens' audited statements. The gap between underwriting result and net income primarily reflects investment income plus other income or expense. In 2025, $639.214 million of underwriting income, $335.848 million of investment income and $4.100 million of other income sum to $979.162 million of net income. Storm losses, revisions to estimates of earlier claims, changes in insured properties and reinsurance affect the comparison alongside any legislative effects. Claims from Hurricane Idalia added to Citizens’ insurance costs in 2023. Surplus was $7.40 billion at year-end 2016 and $5.16 billion at year-end 2025. Catastrophe ceded premium, the premium passed to reinsurers for catastrophe protection, was 28.7 percent of direct written premium in 2025; the broader 75.5 percent ceded-premium ratio also includes premiums transferred with policies moving to private insurers. It therefore measures more than the purchase of catastrophe protection. The 2026 budget's $469.1 million net-income figure is a forecast, not an audited result. Source: Citizens, audited statutory financial statements: 2025 and 2024; 2023 and 2022; 2022 and 2021; 2020 and 2019; 2018 and 2017 (auditor names and opinions appear in each report); Citizens, 2026 Operating Budget (2026 plan). Source id: SRC-FL-02; SRC-FL-04.

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Figure 5: Storm loss probabilities and protection

The February report estimates loss thresholds with annual exceedance probabilities of 2 percent, 1 percent and 0.4 percent. The June program announcement uses a later portfolio and protection package. The two releases cannot be combined to calculate a funding shortfall.

Return to Figure 5 and its source
Figure 6: County premiums
County measures
counties with a decline = count(premium_Mar2026 < premium_Sep2025) = 51 of 67 median change = 34th of 67 changes sorted ascending = -$14 range: -$119 (Indian River) to +$35 (Gilchrist) group difference = (premium with wind - premium without wind) / premium with wind x 100 Monroe = ($7,863 - $1,871) / $7,863 x 100 = 76.21% counties at or above 50% = 11
Result: premiums fell in 51 of 67 counties. Monroe's group-average difference is 76.21%; this is not the wind portion of an individual premium.
Inputs: OIR Stability Reports, Jan 1 and Jul 1, 2026. Baker and Union have negative group differences: their reported without-wind averages exceed their with-wind averages. The source does not explain the difference or report the sample sizes needed to investigate it.

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The county figures are observations at September 30, 2025 and March 31, 2026, published in OIR’s January and July 2026 reports. As of the October 7, 2026 source review, the latest county observations available in OIR’s published stability reports are for March 2026. Following the established report cycle, January 2027 is the expected report to check for September 2026 observations; the exact release and coverage are not yet confirmed. A September-to-September annual comparison must wait for that release. OIR report archive.

County sources: OIR Property Insurance Stability Report, Jan 1, 2026 · Jul 1, 2026

Figure 7: Premium trends
Average premium = premium in force / policies in force Premium per $100,000 exposure = premium in force / exposure in force x 100,000 2022 Q2: $11,370,137,491.66 / $2,474,782,289,234.71 x 100,000 = $459.439909 2026 Q2: $15,304,686,406.33 / $3,220,782,564,931.72 x 100,000 = $475.185335 Change = (475.185335 / 459.439909 - 1) x 100 = 3.4271%, displayed as 3.4%
Seventeen OIR Statewide Summary by Company and Policy Type workbooks; select owner-occupied homeowners excluding wind-only and blank or zero-policy rows. Citizens totals spanning multiple policy types and monthly transactions from the surplus lines market cover different groups of policies and cannot be substituted into these calculations. Nominal dollars. Filings are not audited by OIR before publication.

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Sources: OIR, Statewide Summary by Company and Policy Type (seventeen quarterly files, Q2 2022 through Q2 2026, published under Residential Market Share Reports); Citizens, Policies in Force (monthly Detail reports and exposure filings). Florida publishes no coverage-adjusted statewide price of its own; that series is a Pioneer calculation from the OIR files. Calculation: Pioneer Institute.
Inflation comparison: premium purchasing power
CPI ratio = 333.952 / 296.311 Real premium change = (2026 average / 2022 average) / CPI ratio - 1 Average premium = unrounded OIR premium in force / policies in force June 2022-dollar premium = 2026 average / CPI ratio

BLS CPI-U series CUUR0000SA0: June 2022 release, Table 1; June 2026 release, Table 1. Premium inputs: OIR quarterly workbooks, owner-occupied homeowners excluding wind-only.

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Figure 8: Litigation rates by loss year

The percentages show reported closed HO-3 claims involving litigation, grouped by the year the loss occurred. The statewide series includes Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach. Newer loss years have had less time to develop; these are not final lifetime litigation rates and do not isolate the effects of the reforms.

Source: OIR July 2026 Property Insurance Stability Report, printed page 14.

Return to Figure 8

Figure 9: Litigation shares and filing timing

A state’s share is its reported total divided by the nationwide total. Changes in shares are percentage points, not changes in the number of lawsuits. The 2025 observations remain preliminary. Accelerated civil filings before March 24, 2023 complicate comparisons across years; annual totals cannot identify how many homeowners cases were accelerated.

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OIR’s July release expected final 2025 figures in the third quarter of 2026. As of October 7, 2026, no final replacement was identified in the OIR report archive; this brief therefore retains the preliminary figures. In 2021, Florida accounted for 6.9 percent of nationwide homeowners claims and 76 percent of lawsuits. A timing adjustment would require case filing dates, underlying loss dates and comparable follow-up periods, rather than annual totals alone.

HB 837: effective March 24, 2023; enrolled law, sections 28-31; Florida Bar reporting on the pre-cutoff surge; Florida Supreme Court AOSC23-29. The court and Bar sources concern civil filings broadly, not a count of accelerated homeowners lawsuits. Annual shares: OIR July 2026 report linked below.

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Citizens’ book and risk
Financial performance
Homeowner costs and inflation
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