Florida homeowners recovering from years of skyrocketing insurance premiums and coverage cuts have received some positive news: regulators have approved a new insurer to enter the state’s market, and a new partnership between two private companies could help policyholders save money.
The initiatives are signs that the Sunshine State property insurance market might finally be stabilizing after plunging into a crisis over the past few years, becoming more affordable for homeowners.
Why It Matters
Several major insurers cut coverage across Florida or withdrew from the state entirely in the past few years, citing increasing costs and growing catastrophe exposure. A combination of excessive litigation, widespread claim fraud and the growing risk of more frequent and severe natural disasters contributed to create a perfect storm that plunged the state’s property insurance sector into a crisis.
As premiums skyrocketed and availability shrank, lawmakers in Tallahassee introduced regulatory reforms trying to limit litigation and attract insurers to the state. Experts and regulators think these moves are now starting to pay back.
What To Know
Earlier this week, Florida’s Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky announced that a new property and casualty (P&C) insurer, Mangrove, was approved to operate in the state. The company joins 10 others which have received regulators’ green light to enter the state’s market since Florida legislators passed a series of reforms to stabilize the state’s property insurance market in 2022-2023.
Mangrove plans to assume tens of thousands of policies from Citizens, Florida’s state-backed insurer of last resort. The move could successfully help depopulate Citizens, which has ballooned in size over the past few years, raising concerns among experts and legislators.
This year should also see the beginning of the partnership announced by Embark MGA and Security First Insurance in late December 2024. The two companies are working on the launch of a program which will integrate insurance quotes into the homebuying and mortgage qualification process, making it easier for buyers to get coverage while purchasing a property.
The program will only be available to homebuyers purchasing a brand new construction property built by both national and regional homebuilders, according to the two companies.
“The Florida property insurance market showed vast improvement in 2024 due to recent legislative reforms that addressed the man-made factors which caused the state’s risk crisis: legal system abuse and assignment of benefits claim fraud,” Mark Friedlander, director of corporate communications at the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I), told Newsweek.
“The industry’s improved financial condition enabled it to effectively weather a very active Atlantic hurricane season, which saw three Florida landfalls—Debby, Helene and Milton,” he said.
“Average rates have stabilized, lawsuits filed against Florida domiciled insurers have declined dramatically, […] new property insurers have entered the market and national insurers are growing their market share across the state.”
“Additionally, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s policy count has dropped below 1 million due to successful depopulation of several hundred thousand policies to private insurers as they have capacity to take on more risk due to their improved financial position,” Friedlander added.
What People Are Saying
Embark’s Executive Vice President Brian Crumbaker told Wesh of the new program: “It’s going to allow clients to get much better pricing because it’s reflecting that new home. The policy itself has broader coverage than the typical policy that’s out there.”
Security First President Melissa Burt DeVriese told Wesh: “Because it’s a policy just focused on new homes, it’s about 20-30 percent cheaper than what they could get if they went with a standard homeowner’s policy.”
Yaworsky said on Monday: “We are working hard every day to recruit more insurers to our state. Thanks to recent historic legislative reforms, Florida’s insurance market is stabilizing and more companies are entering the market.”
He added: “Domestic companies reported more than $389 million in net income as of September 2024. We will continue to emphasize the encouraging signs of the resilience and growth of our market to attract more business to our state.”
What Happens Next
While the program announced by Embark MGA and Security First Insurance still needs to be launched, this year could see some real progress in the Florida homeowners insurance market.
The addition of insurers to the state’s market is likely to increase competition and encourage companies to improve their offerings—whether that’s through better customer service, more affordable prices or more comprehensive coverage options.
Friedlander told Newsweek that no significant legislative actions are needed in 2025 to address property insurance. “We expect consumers will be able to reap the benefits of a competitive and healthy private insurance marketplace this year,” he said. “Any attempts by lawmakers to roll back legislative reforms passed in 2022 and 2023 regarding lawsuits would be detrimental to the marketplace.”
The post Florida Homeowners Receive Welcome Insurance News appeared first on Newsweek.
