Florida Home Insurance Rate Cuts Grow as Requests Near 20%

What regulators approved

Florida's property insurance market, which for years was the country's worst example of runaway premiums, now has insurers asking to charge less. On September 22, Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky approved homeowners rate decreases for four insurers. The cuts cover more than 62,000 policies, and the commissioner's office said it is still reviewing many more requests for reductions.21 The approvals were:

• One Alliance North America (formerly Universal North America Insurance): 10.4% average decrease on 17,148 policies23
• Vyrd Insurance: 10.4% on 26,751 policies23
• Safe Harbor Insurance: 4.1% on 10,501 policies23
• Unique Insurance: 3.2% on 8,266 policies23

All four take effect when a policy renews.22

The four filings matter less than what is behind them. Since January 2024, 48 companies have filed to lower rates and another 53 have asked for no change.21 Requests still under review range from a 0.3% cut to a 19.7% cut. Yaworsky said he expects "more aggressive rate cuts" soon and into 2027, and that his office would speed up its reviews.21 That near-20% top end is why trade coverage described double-digit requests as piling up.6

How far the numbers have moved

The regulator's own figures show how sharply things have changed. Over the latest 30 days, the average requested homeowners rate change was a 4.8% decrease. A year earlier it was a 1.1% decrease, and five years earlier it was a 5.2% increase.21 In July 2022, at the height of the crisis, the average approved change was an increase of 15.33%.21

The longer-term measure is less dramatic. The 180-day average request is a 0.3% decrease, compared with flat a year ago and a 5.1% increase three years ago.21 In other words, the steep cuts are recent. Over six months, the market is roughly holding steady rather than falling fast. That is worth keeping in mind before reading the 30-day figure as a permanent trend.

Florida also compares well with other states. Citing S&P Global, the regulator said Florida was the only state where homeowners rates fell in 2025, by 0.92%, while the national weighted average rose 5.5%. Some states saw cumulative two-year increases above 34%, and one reached 44.5%.21

Where the coverage differs

Outlets mostly repeated the regulator's announcement, but a few details differ in ways readers should notice.

The average cut. Several outlets said the four approvals averaged about 7%.2326 That is a simple average of the four company figures. One brokerage worked out that weighting each cut by the number of policies affected gives closer to 8.3%, because the two 10.4% filings cover most of the policies.28 The weighted figure better reflects what the typical affected policyholder will see. Either way, the regulator noted that individual policies may differ from the company average.28

Citizens' size. Citizens Property Insurance, the state-created insurer of last resort, is shrinking quickly, but reports give different counts. Insurance Journal put it at 266,231 policies in August, down from about 1.4 million in 2023.23 Florida Realtors reported Citizens president Tim Cerio's figure of nearly 255,000 as of September 18, with about 248,000 expected by year-end.22 The gap mostly reflects different dates in a book that keeps shrinking. Estimates of Citizens' total insured value vary more: Florida Realtors cited about $70 billion now, versus $552 billion three years ago,22 while Insurance Journal reported an expected $85 billion this year.23 All of these numbers point the same way, toward a much smaller state exposure if a major hurricane hits.

Citizens' own rate cut. Some outlets give 8.7% and others 8.8%. The difference is in what is measured. One local agency reports an 8.7% average cut for standard HO-3 homeowners policies,30 while other coverage gives 8.8% for homeowners multiperil policies, with every Citizens personal-lines customer getting at least a 2% decrease.26

Why prices are falling

State officials, insurers and trade press all point to the same cause: the 2022 and 2023 laws that ended one-way attorney fees and assignment-of-benefits agreements in property claims.23 Kin Insurance, which announced average cuts of more than 20% in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, cited regulator data showing that the share of HO-3 losses ending in litigation in those counties dropped from 24.1% in 2022 to 2% in 2025.26 Cerio said lawsuits over Citizens claims are down 55% since 2023, and he credited that decline with allowing rate cuts in both Citizens and the private market.22

There is also evidence beyond litigation. Florida's domestic insurers had a combined ratio of 83% in 2025, which the regulator called the lowest in more than a decade. Preliminary data suggest reinsurance costs fell at least 10% for 2026.29 Twenty-one new companies have been approved to write residential property policies since the reforms, according to the regulator's July stability report.30 Insurers have also noted that recent storm seasons produced more predictable losses. Heritage's CEO said insurers now have three years of more normal claims data to price from.5

The best reading is that the reforms are the foundation, but they are not the whole explanation. Cheaper reinsurance, new competitors and a quiet period for losses all helped. Some of those factors could reverse. A rating-agency report cited in the coverage said a major hurricane would be the real test of Florida's recovered market.23 None of the reports claims the market has been tested by one yet.

Auto insurance followed the same path

Car insurance has moved in the same direction. In March, the regulator said Florida's five largest auto insurance groups (Progressive, GEICO, State Farm, Allstate and USAA), which write about 78% of the market, were indicating an average 8% decrease for 2026. One group indicated a 16.5% cut.11 Insurers have also returned money directly. Progressive reported nearly $1 billion in policyholder credits, and State Farm announced about $533 million in dividends, averaging $173 per vehicle.11 Dairyland recently said it will pay about $30 million in dividends to Florida auto customers after cutting rates an average of 14%.23

Claims costs explain much of this. Florida's personal auto liability loss ratio, or claims paid as a share of premiums, was 52.5% in 2025, the lowest in 15 years. The physical damage loss ratio fell from 112% in 2022 to 49.5%.12 Low loss ratios like these are what make rate cuts and dividends possible. They also raise a fair question: were earlier premiums priced well above what claims ended up costing?

The auto coverage has its own inconsistency. Allstate's cut was reported as 7% for more than 171,000 drivers after the regulator issued a correction,17 but another outlet still lists 7% for about 13,000 drivers.19 The corrected figure is the more reliable one.

Health insurance is moving the other way

Florida's property and auto relief contrasts sharply with health insurance. Insurers selling Affordable Care Act marketplace plans have proposed a median 15% increase for 2027, based on KFF's analysis of 276 insurers. That would be the second straight year of double-digit increases, after a median finalized increase of 20% last year.31 Employers expect health benefit costs per worker to rise 8.2% in 2027, the fastest increase since 2003.34

The causes are different. Health insurers cite higher provider prices, drug costs including GLP-1 medications, workforce shortages, and the end of enhanced ACA subsidies. Without those subsidies, younger and healthier people are dropping coverage, leaving a sicker and more expensive group of enrollees.3231 State approvals are showing the effects. Maryland approved an average 14.6% increase for unsubsidized individual plans,38 and New Jersey's marketplace premiums will rise about 20% on average.

The comparison shows what Florida's reforms did and did not do. They lowered costs that came from the legal system: lawsuit volume, attorney fees, and claims inflated through assignment-of-benefits deals. They could not address costs driven by medical inflation, drug use or federal subsidy policy. Florida households may pay less for home and car insurance at their next renewal while their health premiums rise.

What homeowners should keep in mind

A cheaper market does not mean a cheaper policy for everyone. Florida still has some of the highest home insurance costs in the country. The regulator lists an average admitted-market homeowners premium of $3,736 including wind.22 Palm Beach County averages $6,323.29 The approved cuts apply only at renewal, and individual premiums can still rise depending on location, roof age and claims history.1 Even Citizens' president is telling customers who get large renewal increases to shop around.22

Overall, Florida's homeowners market has shifted from steady increases to modest, uneven decreases, and pending filings suggest bigger cuts are coming. How long that lasts depends on the next major hurricane. Until then, the reforms have done what they were meant to do for property and auto insurance, while health insurance costs nationally continue to climb.