Citizens, Florida's state-backed property insurance, proposes 14% statewide rate hike

The Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Board of Governors on Wednesday will consider a proposal that would lead to an average 13.5 percent rate increase in 2025 for homeowners with the most-common type of policy and an average 14.2 percent increase for condominium-unit owners.

Citizens released information Tuesday evening that said the proposal would lead to an average 14 percent increase for all “personal lines” policies, which include such things as homeowners, condo-unit owners, renters and mobile-home owners.

If the Board of Governors signs off on the proposal, the hikes also would need approval from the state Office of Insurance Regulation.

Also Tuesday, the state insurer posted online that it had 1,202,696 policies as of Friday, up from 1,198,265 policies a week earlier and 1,193,484 policies two weeks earlier.

Citizens, which was created as an insurer of last resort, has become the state’s largest carrier in recent years as private companies dropped policies and raised rates because of financial problems.

Citizens reached as many as 1.412 million policies in fall 2023 before seeing reductions because of what is known as a “depopulation” program designed to shift policies into the private market.

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