Among Florida counties, Monroe posted the highest average property insurance premium cost for single-family homes – $7,162 – according to new data from Florida insurance regulators that highlights continuing challenges for the state’s insurers.
The average single-family property insurance premium in the county rose $433 in just six months, according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. The office’s first Property Insurance Stability Report for the new year shows that the counties with the next highest insurance costs on single-family homes were Miami-Dade, $5,391; Palm Beach, $5,247; and Broward, $5,164.
In comparison, the average annual property insurance cost paid by Americans with $250,000 in coverage is $1,383, according to Bankrate.com.
The report points to the state’s litigated property insurance claims environment as a key cost driver for homeowners’ insurance costs. In 2021, Florida homeowners’ claims represented only 6.91 percent of all such claims filed in the U.S., the report states, but more than three-fourths of all U.S. property insurance lawsuits were filed in Florida.
“Most of the primary cost drivers in the Florida property insurance market, including catastrophic claims, adverse loss reserve development and higher reinsurance costs, are notably exacerbated by excessive and costly litigation,” FLOIR spokeswoman Samantha Bequer told the Florida Record in an email. “In response to challenges in the market, insurers pass these costs to the consumer by increasing premiums to cover losses and expenses, creating affordability challenges for consumers.”
The data in the FLOIR report, which indicates Sumter County had the lowest average property insurance cost in the state at $1,533 for single-family homeowners, predates the passage of Senate Bill 2-A during a special legislative session in December. That reform ended the state’s one-way attorney fee provision for property insurance claims litigation while increasing the authority of FLOIR and providing consumers with faster action on valid claims.
“Florida has enacted historic and unprecedented reforms designed to promote market stability, but the impact of these reforms will take time,” Bequer said.
Over the past year, as several Florida insurers became insolvent and property insurance rates continued to increase, the state-run insurer of last resort in Florida, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., saw its policy count rise by 33.7 percent between Dec. 31, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2022. The number of policies covered by Citizens is now 1.15 million, the company reported.