INSURANCE JOURNAL, By William Rabb | December 11, 2025
After years of asking for rate increases to help drive consumers to the private market and reduce its exposure, Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is now asking for a rare decrease in homeowners’ rates.
The corporation’s Board of Governors on Wednesday voted to file for an average rate cut of 2.6% for personal lines, starting in June 2026. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation must review the filing and may even land on a larger decrease as insurers litigation costs continue to drop, Citizens’ President Tim Cerio told the board.
“As the market continues to get better, OIR may grant even greater relief,” Cerio said.
Regulators’ decision on the rate cut could come early next year.
The decrease is a stunning reversal of the trend seen in recent years. In early 2022, Citizens’ indicated rate increase was more than 91% for HO policies. And just six months ago, the Citizens board voted to request a 15% average rate increase, the maximum allowed by the statutory glidepath, for personal lines for the first half of 2026.
Wednesday’s board action is the latest indicator that Florida’s December 2022 legislative changes, which ended the industry-despised one-way attorney fees and assignment-of-benefit agreements, are having a marked effect on the previously distressed Florida market. Cerio credited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislative leaders for shepherding the landmark reforms.
Citizens will end 2025 with its lowest policy count ever—about 385,000 policies—as new carriers have moved into the rejuvenated state arena. Citizens is rapidly becoming the backstop insurer of last resort that lawmakers envisioned when they created the corporation in 2002.
Not every policyholder will enjoy a drop in premiums. But almost half of Citizens’ personal-lines consumers will see an average rate decrease of about 11.5%, staff members told the board. That’s an average annual premium savings of about $359.
It’s possible that a Citizens rate cut will make it slightly more difficult for primary-market carriers to continue to reduce their own premiums enough to make successful take-out offers to Citizens’ policyholders. But officials at the board meeting doubted that will be the case. The Citizens rate news came one week after Florida regulators approved a 3.3% average rate decrease for Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance policyholders in Florida, according to news reports.
Heritage is one of multiple Florida carriers to file for rate decreases this year. Patriot Select, risen from the remnants of Anchor Insurance, said this month that it had reduced average premiums by about 11.3%. Security First, one of the larger Florida carriers, in October filed for an 8% average statewide rate decrease for thousands of homeowners policies.
The proposed Citizens rate decrease was welcomed by Board member Robert Spottswood, of Monroe County, which has been particularly affected by soaring insurance premiums in recent years. He urged Citizens staff to consider potential changes to underwriting guidelines, changes that could reduce rates further for vulnerable areas.
Read the full story at the Insurance Journal website here.