Drew Dixon
After nearly a decade of a rocky market, the Florida residential property insurance industry returned to profitability in 2024, just as the new Hurricane Season is getting underway.
Global credit agency AM Best attributed legislative changes in 2022 to help revitalize the residential property insurance market in the Sunshine State. A report in Insurance Journal detailed how the changes in state statute played “a critical role” in ending seven rough financial years for that industry. Much of that action focused on making it more difficult to sue insurance companies successfully in Florida.
“Florida’s legislative reforms acted as a material tailwind for longstanding participants but also improved the environment to attract new entrants, effectively increasing capacity,” said Josie Novak, Senior Financial Analyst at AM Best. “Additionally, the retreat of certain carriers — whether through reduced market participation or the suspension of new business — has created space for new companies to establish a foothold, further reshaping the competitive landscape.”
S&P Global Market Analysis was in line with the AM Best conclusions and also gave credit to the legislation for improving profits for Florida’s top 50 property insurers.
An AM Best news release said the turnaround for property insurance companies in the state was dramatic last year.
“Active Florida property insurers (i.e., excluding the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and any companies now insolvent) reported a combined ratio of 93.1 for 2024 with an underwriting gain of $206.7 million, compared with a $174.4 million loss in 2023. Pre-tax operating income of $492.3 million compared with a result just above breakeven in the previous year,” AM Best analysts concluded.
“These materially higher positions reflect the state’s unique exposure to catastrophic weather events, reinsurance dependence, and greater direct risk borne by Florida specialists.”
The Insurance Journal report also noted that the legislative developments even buoyed the government nonprofit Citizens Insurance.
“Citizens showed continued growth in 2023, the analysis noted. But this year, Citizens’ own reports show that the insurer has slimmed down a bit, from 1.23 million policies in force at the end of last year to 1.17 million in February before climbing slightly to 1.18 million in March. Total direct premiums for Citizens climbed 53% in 2023, to more than $5 billion, the S&P report noted,” the Insurance Journal report noted.
