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Florida Homeowners Will Likely Continue to Face Challenging Property Insurance Market in 2023


The trend of paying up to protect your home is expected to continue in 2023. 

According to the Insurance Information Institute, premiums in Florida are expected to increase an average of about 40% this year, even though lawmakers in Tallahassee approved sweeping reforms in a special legislative session last month.

“The situation has gotten so bad in Florida and the market has been in turmoil for so many years, it can’t just change overnight with the flick of a switch,” said Mark Friedlander, a spokesperson for the Institute. “It’s going to take time.”

The January 2023 Property Insurance Stability Report released by Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation shows homeowners in Monroe, Broward and Miami-Dade counties are already paying the highest average premiums in the state, with some homeowners facing significant premium increases. You can read the report here.

A Broward homeowner recently told NBC 6 his premium jumped by over $5,000 at renewal in December 2022. He said his existing policy was $4,951 a year and the renewal he was offered last month was $10,136 — more than double what he was paying.

Friedlander said it is not uncommon to see these types of premium increases.

“When an insurance company files a rate change with the Florida insurance regulator, it’s for an average statewide rate increase,” Friedlander said. “But that’s just a starting point … areas that have higher risk are going to pay well above the average and areas in the state that have lower risk are going to pay well below the average.”

Friedlander said the most immediate impact from the newly passed laws homeowners will see this year is that their insurance company will likely be staying in business in the state.

“That’s probably number one because there are still many Florida insurers that are in a precarious financial position,” he said.

He said 19 companies remain on the state’s watch list, primarily because of past litigation expenses.

“It is very concerning that we could see high volumes of new litigation relating specifically to Hurricanes Ian and Nicole that could drive these companies into further trouble,” he added.

NBC 6 reached out to the state regulator to ask about the increase our Broward viewer experienced at renewal.  A spokesperson said they were looking into it and would let us know what they find.

Meanwhile, the viewer did tell NBC 6 he was likely going to end up with Citizens, the state’s insurer of last resort.  Friedlander said Citizens is expected to reach the highest number of policyholders it’s ever had, sometime this year.



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