{"id":357834,"date":"2025-12-19T10:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/357834\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T10:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:05:10","slug":"citizens-insurance-proposes-first-rate-cut-in-a-decade-as-florida-insurance-market-stabilizes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/357834\/","title":{"rendered":"Citizens Insurance proposes first rate cut in a decade as Florida insurance market stabilizes"},"content":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 For the first time in more than a decade, Citizens Property Insurance Corp.<\/a>, the state-backed insurer of last resort, is proposing a 2.6% statewide average rate decrease, a move insurance experts say signals growing stability after years of soaring costs.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Citizens Insurance no longer Florida\u2019s largest property insurer after major policy drop<\/a><\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s troubled property insurance market may be turning a corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis market has turned the corner,\u201d Mark Friedlander said, a spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute. \u201cIt\u2019s now considered one of the most stable insurance environments in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just three years ago, Florida led the nation in homeowners\u2019 insurance rate increases. Excessive litigation and legal system abuse drove premiums sharply higher, Friedlander said.<\/p>\n

At the center of the problem was a state law that allowed one-way attorney fees, encouraging lawsuits against insurers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida had almost 100,000 lawsuits annually \u2014 roughly 80% of all U.S. property claim lawsuits,\u201d Friedlander said.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers later overhauled the state\u2019s property insurance laws, tightening deadlines for filing claims and limiting litigation. Those changes, combined with quieter hurricane seasons and lower reinsurance costs, helped stabilize the market.<\/p>\n

Citizens has also reduced its footprint through its depopulation program, transferring hundreds of thousands of policies to private insurers. The company\u2019s policy count has dropped from about 1.4 million to roughly 546,000.<\/p>\n

The proposed rate cut could have ripple effects beyond Citizens policyholders.<\/p>\n

Sean Way, owner of Sunsera Insurance Agency, said increased competition is already driving prices down across the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew carriers coming into Florida are creating competition,\u201d Way said. \u201cEverybody wants to grow, and rates are trending downward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Way said homeowners should consider shopping around, noting he recently helped a homeowner with a 1998-built house cut their premium nearly in half by switching carriers.<\/p>\n

Insurance experts caution savings will vary based on location, home age and risk factors, but say conditions are improving.<\/p>\n

If approved, the new Citizens rates would take effect June 1, 2026. Putnam and Baker counties are expected to see some of the largest rate reductions in North Florida.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 For the first time in more than a decade, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-backed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[177235,28,177236,101,2808,45598,33493],"class_list":["post-357834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-baker-county","tag-business","tag-citizens-property-insurance","tag-economy","tag-florida","tag-putnam-county","tag-tallahassee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}