JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Citizens Property Insurance policyholders will likely be paying more next year for their home insurance policy.
In a unanimous vote Wednesday morning, the Citizens Board of Governors approved a 14% price hike for the insurer’s 1.2 million policyholders -- covering single family homes, condominiums, mobile homes and rental properties.
- If you live in Duval County, that means you could be paying $4,082 instead of $3,581 for your premium.
- In St. Johns County, the average premium could jump from $3,509 to $4,000.
- And, in Clay County, the average premium would increase from $3,264 to $3,720.
The proposal will go to the state Office of Insurance Regulation for review and potential approval.
READ: Citizens 2025 Rate Kit
The news comes as industry experts have been reporting that Florida’s property insurance market is starting to stabilize -- pointing to eight new insurance companies entering the market this year in Florida. Private insurance companies have reported profits as well.
“Here’s the time to take advantage of an improving market. We’re hearing from companies that are reducing rates or filing zero rate increases. Time to get some quotes, maybe you could do better,” said Mark Friedlander, spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute. “See if your agent could get you quotes for some of those new companies. You don’t have to stay with Citizens. In fact, the goal is Citizens doesn’t want you to stay.”
Citizens is the insurer of last resort in Florida, meaning those who have policies with Citizens are typically unable to get affordable coverage elsewhere.
Friedlander said Citizens succeeded in moving about 400,000 customers to the private market since last October, but at the same time, 200,000 new customers have been added to Citizens, which is still growing at about 5,000 new policies a week.
“The fact that Citizens is still growing at 5,000 policies a week, what does that tell us? It’s still a very large gap between the Citizens rates and the private market. It’s not meeting that 20% goal,” he said. “So if [the private market] rate is over 20%, then Citizens keeps the existing policy.”
Friedlander says Citizens’ property insurance hike is necessary so the state-backed insurance company’s rates can get closer to the private market.
“One important point to keep in mind is Citizens’ customers typically pay much less than a private market customer. In fact, the gap is about 30% to 40%. So even if the 14% rate increase is implemented, Citizens’ customers most likely will be paying quite a bit less than private market insurance,” Friedlander said.
We want to know what you think. How do you feel about the proposed 14% rate hike for Citizens’ policyholders and what is your strategy for finding a lower rate?
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