Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Florida's insurer of last resort, is shrinking, a necessary step in reducing risk for all the state's homeowners, industry officials say.
The state-run company said on Friday that it now has 482,266 policies after a series of private carriers assumed tens of thousands of Citizens' policies in October. The number of Citizens' policies peaked in October 2023 at 1.41 million.
"Florida’s property insurance market is healthy again and that is reflected in the continued success of the Citizens Depopulation program," the company said in an emailed statement to Homes.com. "New private insurers are entering the market and existing companies are expanding. Consumers have options and should shop around for the coverage that best fits their needs."
If Citizens ever doesn't have enough money to pay its claims after a major storm, all Florida property owners, even those not insured by Citizens, could be charged special assessments to make up the shortfall. That's why it's essential for private carriers to reduce Citizens' exposure, officials say.
In 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed for a series of legislative reforms to address spiraling insurance costs and a wave of canceled policies. State regulators have since approved more than a dozen new carriers to offer coverage.
The reforms were key to the market's turnaround, according to Mark Friedlander, spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, a Malvern, Pennsylvania-based research and education group comprising insurance company members.
"Citizens has returned to its intended role as an insurer of last resort versus being the largest writer of home insurance in the state," Friedlander said in an email. "Another strong sign of a stable, healthy insurance market.”
Mangrove Property Insurance, approved in January to do business in the Sunshine State, is one of the private carriers that assumed Citizens' policies in October. Mangrove has taken over about 65,000 Citizens policies this year and expects to assume 9,000 more by year's end, spokesperson Edie Ousley said in an email.