President Trump’s tariffs are affecting homeowners’ insurance
Florida is one of the most expensive states to insure a home, and now President Trump’s tariffs may increase homeowners’ insurance.
- Florida’s homeowners insurance market is stabilizing after a crisis, though obtaining insurance during hurricane season remains challenging.
- Homeowners insurance typically excludes flood, earthquake, sinkhole, wear-and-tear and negligence-related damages.
- Various homeowners insurance types range from basic (HO-1) to comprehensive (HO-5), catering to different needs and property types.
Hurricane Season 2025 is quickly approaching, which means home insurance in Florida will get harder to buy in just a few months.
Although the state’s been in a years-long insurance crisis, it’s calming down. Insurance experts say it’s starting to stabilize, thanks to 2024 legislation and a February rate reduction announcement from Gov. Ron DeSantis that highlighted the improvements in the state’s insurance market. But home insurance in Florida is still harder to get than in most other states, specifically during hurricane season.
If you’re a new homeowner in Florida there are some key things to know about home insurance that can save you thousands if a major storm hits. For example: Flood insurance isn’t usually included in home insurance policies, some policies require a separate deductible for hurricane damage and there are often incentives for weatherproofing your home.
Here’s what you need to know to make sure your home is well-insured ahead of the 2025 Hurricane Season in Florida.
Have home insurance rates gone up in Florida?
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Yes and no. Florida’s been in a years-long homeowners insurance crisis, punctuated by significant damage from several major hurricanes a few years in a row. This led companies that sell home insurance to start dropping out of the Florida market.
But insurance experts say the market is starting to slowly stabilize — emphasis on “slowly.” Although the cost to insure a home is still rising, it isn’t skyrocketing as it was a few years ago, even with the recently imposed tariffs.
“The Florida homeowners insurance crisis is the result of several factors, including hurricanes and litigation, that have caused home insurance companies to pull back, leave the state or even go out of business. As new legislation starts to impact rates and new companies enter the market, the crisis appears to be easing,” Insurance.com’s March 2025 report says.
“The December 2024 Chamber of Commerce summit found that rates are starting to stabilize, believed to be the results of the new legislation. Legislation can take time to work, and rate stabilization appears to be finally happening.”
Can you get home insurance during hurricane season?
There are certain times when buying homeowners’ insurance is virtually impossible in Florida. You can sometimes buy homeowners’ insurance during hurricane season, but not always. When insurance companies issue a policy, they’re hoping you won’t have to file a claim. The likelier it is that you will file a claim for storm damages, the warier they are of issuing you a policy.
This is why most insurance companies don’t sell homeowners’ insurance 24 to 48 hours before a storm is anticipated to hit the state. Rules around when you can and can’t buy homeowners’ insurance vary depending on which insurance provider you buy from. But it’s usually very difficult to get a new home insurance policy during hurricane season in Florida, no matter who you insure with.
When is the 2025 Hurricane Season?
The Atlantic Hurricane Season officially starts on June 1 and ends on Nov. 30 every year.
What are three things that are not covered by homeowners’ insurance?
As mentioned above, the “Exclusions” and “Duties After Loss” sections of your home or flood insurance policies are where you’ll find any gaps in your coverage. There are eight different types of home insurance that you can buy (see below). Most of them don’t include coverage for flooding and natural disasters like earthquakes and sinkholes, and only certain types of policies extend coverage past your actual house, to the property itself.
Here are three categories of damages that most homeowners’ insurance policies don’t cover, according to Herman & Wells, a Florida-based insurance claim and personal injury attorney office:
- Wear and tear: Florida home insurance policies usually don’t cover the natural wear and tear of your property, which encompasses things that are the homeowners’ responsibility to maintain. This includes things like aging roofing, or plumbing, and even termite damage.
- Sinkholes and earth movements: An exclusion unique to Florida home insurance is coverage for sinkholes and earth movements. Florida has the highest incidence of sinkholes in the U.S., but standard home insurance policies don’t cover any damages caused by them. You have to buy sinkhole insurance separately.
- Intentional damage or negligence: Standard home insurance policies usually don’t cover damages caused intentionally or as a result of negligence. In other words, if you don’t stay on top of necessary maintenance that leads to damage, the insurance company won’t cover the cost of repair. This exclusion is closely related to the “wear and tear” exclusion.
Does my home insurance cover flooding? Do I really need flood insurance in Florida?
No. And if disaster hits, you don’t want to be left in the dark about any gaps in your policy coverage. If you’re a new homeowner, you might not know that flood and home insurance are typically sold separately. Most home insurance policies don’t cover damages sustained from flooding.
To familiarize yourself with what your policy or policies do and don’t cover and if there are costs you might be responsible for covering after the storm, re-read the “Exclusions” and “Duties After Loss” sections of your home or flood insurance policies.
Homeowners’ insurance policies usually cover damage from strong winds, including strong winds from hurricanes. But your policy might have a separate deductible for hurricane damage.
According to Risk Strategies, a national insurance brokerage and risk management firm, “When it comes to flood insurance in Florida, the question shouldn’t be, ‘Am I in a flood zone?’ – It should be, ‘Which flood zone am I in?’ Despite how your property is designated on the FEMA flood zone map, all of Florida is in a flood zone and all owners and investors face exposure from flooding.”
And just one inch of water in your home could cost up to $25,000 or more to repair. Homeowners who don’t have flood insurance have the option to apply for federal disaster assistance through a loan through FEMA. But unlike payouts from insurance claims, the federal disaster assistance loans have to be paid back.
What is homeowners’ insurance and how does it work?
Homeowners’ insurance is a type of property insurance that covers damage or loss by theft and damages from disasters like storms — not including flooding — and fires. Mortgage lenders typically require homeowners’ insurance as part of their mortgage terms.
Basically, if you just bought or already own a house in Florida, you probably need homeowners’ insurance. But there isn’t just one kind of insurance for homeowners. You can insure just your house, your house and all of the other structures on your property and even your tenants, if you’re a landlord.
Here are the different components of home insurance as listed by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation:
- Coverage A: Structure (the dwelling itself)
- Coverage B: Other structures (sheds and fences)
- Coverage C: Personal property (contents of the structures)
- Coverage D: Loss of use (Additional Living Expense or ALE)
- Coverage L: Personal Liability
- Coverage M: Medical Payments to Others
Types of homeowners’ insurance you can buy in Florida
- HO-1, Basic form: This is the most basic type of homeowners’ insurance you can buy. Since insurance plans that offer more coverage are only slightly more expensive than this basic plan, many home insurers choose not to carry HO-1 policies, according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. HO-1 policies only cover damages on this list:
- fire or smoke
- Explosions
- Lightning
- Hail and windstorms
- Theft
- Vandalism
- Damage from vehicles
- Damage from aircraft
- Riots and civil commotion
- Volcanic eruption.
- HO-2, Broad form: HO-2 policies cover the same damages, or perils, that HO-1 policies cover, but extend coverage to personal belongings, covering accidental discharge or overflow of water or steam; falling objects; freezing of household systems, like AC or heating; sudden and accidental damage from an artificially generated electrical current; sudden and accidental tearing apart, cracking, burning, or bulging of pipes and other household systems; as well as weight of ice, snow, or sleet. Some HO-2s cover personal liability as well.
- HO-3, Special form: Unlike Ho-2 and Ho-1 policies, HO-3 policies cover damages that are not listed. HO-3s are open-peril policies, meaning unless the insurer excludes a peril from the policy, then the policy covers any kind of peril, listed or not. Although, most insurers exclude flooding and earthquake damages from HO-3s. HO-3s only include the home itself.
- HO-4, Tenant: Most HO-4 policies cover the same named damages that HO-2 policies cover. HO-4s are known as renters insurance and provide coverage for tenants who want insurance. “The purpose of this kind of policy is to protect items within the dwelling, as well as any permanent fixtures like cabinets that were installed by the renter,” according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.
- HO-5, Comprehensive form: Like HO-3s, HO-5s are open-peril policies and can cover a variety of damages not specifically listed in the policy. The key difference is that HO-5s extend coverage beyond the home itself, to include personal items and have higher limits of coverage for more valuable belongings.
- HO-6, Condominium: HO-6 policies are for condominium owners who want to insure their unit and personal belongings against damages, excluding flooding. Condo building associations typically have coverage for the building, but condo owners are responsible for anything inside their unit. According to Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation, HO-6 policies generally provide coverage for building property, personal property, personal liability and loss of use.
- HO-7, Mobile home form: HO-7s are similar to HO-3 policies. They’re typically open-peril policies and cover homes like RVs, trailers, sectional homes and single-wide and double-wide mobile homes.
- HO-8, Older home form: HO-8 policies usually cover homes that are at least 40 years old. Insurance companies usually use this type of home insurance to offer affordable coverage to people who own older homes because the building materials needed to repair old homes are often more expensive than the homes themselves. HO-8s are named-peril policies that cover the same damages listed in HO-1 policies, including coverage for personal property, liability and loss of use from named perils.
How to lower home insurance cost in Florida? Ask about weatherproofing incentives
One of the best ways to lower the cost of your home insurance policy in Florida is to look for weatherproofing incentives when you’re comparing insurers.
“There are steps (homeowners) could take to both protect their home and offset higher premiums. So for example, you could check with your current insurer to see if they’ll offer incentives for weatherproofing your home,” Matt Brannon, a data journalist with online insurance marketplace Insurify, told the USA TODAY Florida Network.
“It doesn’t always happen, but some insurers will have some incentives for that. Additionally, it’s always a good idea to compare your rates fairly regularly – maybe once or twice a year – to see if you can find a more attractive policy that will still offer the same amount of coverage for either a lower price or the same price.”
For example: Citizens insurance, which is one of the most popular insurers for homeowners in the state of Florida, offers “Wind-Damage Mitigation” discounts.
“Wind mitigation discounts are available for homes and businesses with documented wind-damage mitigation features, protecting against wind and rain damage present in hurricanes and other severe weather events,” Citizens’ website says.
“To be eligible for these discounts, wind mitigation features must be documented through a wind mitigation inspection.”
An example of wind-damage mitigation features would be doors and windows designed specifically to withstand wind pressure and projectiles; or roofing materials and coverings that are rated to resist high speed winds and water intrusion.
Alice J. Roden started working for Trending Insurance News at the end of 2021. Alice grew up in Salt Lake City, UT. A writer with a vast insurance industry background Alice has help with several of the biggest insurance companies. Before joining Trending Insurance News, Alice briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers home, renters and other property insurance stories.