Overview
Florida’s property insurance market showed its clearest improvement in a decade, with the state’s share of US homeowners claims falling to 4.9% and lawsuits dropping to 41.3%. OIR ties the decline to recent litigation reforms, lower defense costs, Citizens depopulation, stronger insurer results and improved reinsurance pricing.
Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation reported a sharp decline in property insurance claims and lawsuits in its July 2026 Property Insurance Stability Report, adding new evidence that the state’s market has cooled after several years of legislative changes.
Florida accounted for 4.9% of US homeowners property insurance claims opened in 2025. That is the state’s lowest share in 10 years and a steep drop from 12.3% in 2024. The number also sits well below recent peaks, including 16.5% in 2017 and 14.9% in 2022.
The lawsuit data moved in the same direction. Florida still produced 41.3% of US property insurance suits opened in 2025, a high share given the state’s size.
Yet the figure fell from 73.15% in 2024 and also marked the lowest level in a decade. In several prior years, Florida accounted for more than 70% of homeowners insurance lawsuits nationwide.
Key highlights
- Florida’s share of US homeowners claims fell to 4.85% in 2025, the lowest level in 10 years.
- Florida’s share of US homeowners lawsuits dropped to 41.29%, down sharply from 73.15% in 2024.
- Forty-four insurers requested residential property rate decreases for policies effective in 2024 or later, while 48 requested 0% rate changes.
- Florida domestic property insurers posted a pooled combined ratio of 83% in 2025, the lowest in more than a decade.
- Preliminary 2026 reinsurance data show nearly half of participating insurers receiving risk-adjusted pricing reductions between 15% and 25%.
Triple-I and Milliman forecast the US P&C industry’s lowest net combined ratio in more than 10 years for 2025, helped by a quiet hurricane season.
The shift to legislation aimed at reducing property insurance litigation
Florida lawmakers passed multiple reforms between 2019 and 2024, including limits on assignment of benefits litigation, changes to disputed claims procedures and the repeal of most one-way attorney fee statutes.
The 2023 tort reforms received special attention in the report. HB 837 narrowed the use of contingency fee multipliers and removed one-way attorney fees in most insurance disputes. OIR said those changes reduced the financial incentive for excessive litigation around property claims.
Michael Yaworsky, Insurance Commissioner
Lisa Miller, a former Florida Deputy Insurance Commissioner and disaster insurance consultant, said the reforms removed guaranteed one-way attorney fees that had encouraged lawsuits with legal fees far above claim amounts. She said Florida policyholders had been paying for excessive and often weak litigation through higher premiums.
The US property and casualty insurance industry is on track for its lowest net combined ratio in more than a decade for full-year 2025, even after absorbing heavy losses from California wildfires early in the year. The result hinges on a mild Atlantic hurricane season that never reached the US coastline.
Property insurance cost and containment expenses
The report also showed lower defense cost and containment expenses. Domestic homeowners insurers paid about $57.8 mn in direct defense cost and containment expenses in 2025. Average total defense cost and containment expense per claim declined from $947.38 in 2022 to $720 in 2025, according to US Insurance Sector Outlook.
Legal service of process filings for personal residential insurance disputes also declined. OIR reported consistent year-over-year decreases since the 2021 peak.
Filings fell 23% from 2023 to 2024 and 25% from 2024 to 2025. During the first five months of 2026, filings were also down 25% compared with the same period in 2025.
Domestic Homeowners Defense Cost & Containment Expenses
| Year | Percent of nationwide homeowners claims opened in Florida | Percent of nationwide homeowners suits opened in Florida |
| 2016 | 7.75% | 64.43% |
| 2017 | 16.46% | 68.07% |
| 2018 | 11.85% | 79.91% |
| 2019 | 8.16% | 76.45% |
| 2020 | 8.81% | 79.16% |
| 2021 | 6.91% | 76.00% |
| 2022 | 14.93% | 70.83% |
| 2023 | 9.73% | 71.59% |
| 2024 | 12.33% | 73.15% |
| 2025 | 4.85% | 41.29% |
Florida’s claims lifecycle data showed that insurers closed 456,200 unique claims in 2025. Of those, 53,413 were litigated and 387,931 were non-litigated. The reported claims produced $10 bn in indemnity payments and $1.7 bn in loss adjustment expenses.
Litigated claims remained far more expensive to manage. The average loss adjustment expense for litigated claims across all perils was $15,257. For non-litigated claims, the average was $2,044.
The highest litigated share appeared in South Florida. Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties had 20,407 litigated claims and 54,422 non-litigated claims, giving the region a 27.27% litigation rate. Seminole, Orange, Lake and Osceola counties reported a 14.01% litigation rate. All other counties together reported 8.16%.
Claims Closed During Calendar Year
| Peril | Closed claims | Litigated | Non-litigated | Unknown |
| Accidental discharge; overflow of water; steam | 73,638 | 11.04% | 84.85% | 4.11% |
| All other perils | 71,107 | 6.48% | 89.69% | 3.83% |
| Falling object | 768 | 1.43% | 90.63% | 7.94% |
| Fire or lightning | 12,684 | 1.78% | 93.23% | 4.99% |
| Hurricane | 188,209 | 12.19% | 84.87% | 2.94% |
| Other water | 44,417 | 15.25% | 82.55% | 2.20% |
| Sinkhole | 263 | 6.84% | 91.25% | 1.90% |
| Windstorm or hailstorm, other than hurricane | 65,114 | 16.44% | 80.65% | 2.91% |
Statewide, litigated claims accounted for 12.10% of reported closed claims.
- Hurricane claims made up the largest peril category in the 2025 closed-claims dataset, with 188,209 closed claims. Of those, 12.19% were litigated.
- Windstorm and hailstorm claims outside hurricanes had the highest litigation rate among major categories at 16.44%. Other water claims followed at 15.25%.
OIR said claims took an average of 65 days to be reported by policyholders, though the median was 10 days. Insurers closed claims in an average of 66 days, with a median of 30 days.
Florida law generally requires insurers to pay or deny property claims within 60 days after notice unless factors outside the insurer’s control prevent timely action.
The voluntary insurance market also grew stronger
As of March 31, 2026, voluntary insurers held 98.07% of homeowners policies, excluding tenants and condominium policies, while Citizens Property Insurance Corporation held 1.93%. For homeowners multi-peril policies, voluntary insurers held 98.95% of policies, compared with 1.05% for Citizens (see TOP 100 P&C Insurance Companies in the U.S.).
Wind-only coverage remained more concentrated in Citizens. For homeowners wind-only policies, Citizens held 57.33% of the market, compared with 42.67% for voluntary insurers. In condominium unit owners wind-only policies, Citizens held 74.53%.
For condominium unit owners policies overall, voluntary insurers held 96.87% of policies, while Citizens held 3.13%.
Citizens’ policy count has fallen sharply. OIR said Citizens had 293,465 policies in force as of June 5, 2026, its lowest level in 25 years. Before the reforms took effect, Citizens approached 1.2 mn policies in force at year-end 2022. OIR said the insurer is no longer Florida’s largest property insurer.
Property insurance rate filings also shifted
Since the reforms, 44 companies have requested residential property rate decreases for policies effective in 2024 or later. Another 48 companies requested 0% rate changes. OIR said average homeowners premiums for traditional policies including wind coverage decreased in 51 counties from the January report.
Average Premiums Charged for Homeowners and Condominium Unit Owners
| County | Homeowners avg incl wind | Homeowners avg ex wind | Condo unit owners avg incl wind | Condo unit owners avg ex wind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alachua | $2,525 | $1,804 | $977 | $606 |
| Baker | $2,346 | $2,913 | N/A | N/A |
| Bay | $3,465 | $1,577 | $1,393 | $928 |
| Bradford | $2,623 | $1,950 | $1,005 | N/A |
| Brevard | $3,532 | $1,975 | $1,454 | $994 |
| Broward | $6,136 | $3,008 | $1,816 | $1,317 |
| Calhoun | $3,122 | $2,649 | N/A | N/A |
| Charlotte | $3,160 | $1,661 | $1,394 | $933 |
| Citrus | $2,456 | $1,560 | $1,105 | $614 |
| Clay | $2,540 | $2,047 | $962 | $563 |
| Collier | $5,534 | $3,169 | $2,271 | $1,566 |
| Columbia | $2,557 | $2,118 | $971 | $331 |
| DeSoto | $3,421 | $2,167 | $1,088 | $547 |
| Dixie | $2,748 | $1,559 | $1,117 | $499 |
| Duval | $2,786 | $2,095 | $1,054 | $1,047 |
| Escambia | $3,702 | $1,670 | $1,836 | $1,060 |
| Flagler | $2,488 | $1,641 | $1,310 | $1,039 |
| Franklin | $5,221 | $1,954 | $1,563 | $1,400 |
| Gadsden | $2,723 | $2,226 | N/A | N/A |
| Gilchrist | $2,513 | $1,872 | N/A | N/A |
| Glades | $3,477 | $2,019 | $1,117 | N/A |
| Gulf | $3,752 | $1,612 | $1,747 | $886 |
| Hamilton | $2,711 | $2,044 | N/A | N/A |
| Hardee | $3,376 | $2,246 | N/A | N/A |
| Hendry | $2,999 | $1,983 | $1,329 | $878 |
| Hernando | $2,360 | $1,985 | $1,063 | $630 |
| Highlands | $2,736 | $1,599 | $1,082 | $615 |
| Hillsborough | $3,525 | $2,676 | $1,353 | $799 |
| Holmes | $2,942 | $2,560 | N/A | N/A |
| Indian River | $4,334 | $2,744 | $2,086 | $1,424 |
| Jackson | $2,851 | $2,300 | N/A | N/A |
| Jefferson | $2,782 | $2,083 | N/A | N/A |
| Lafayette | $2,903 | $1,649 | N/A | N/A |
| Lake | $2,650 | $1,988 | $1,092 | $768 |
| Lee | $3,576 | $2,119 | $1,494 | $1,061 |
| Leon | $2,538 | $1,710 | $846 | $441 |
| Levy | $2,698 | $1,634 | $1,437 | $637 |
| Liberty | $2,880 | $1,872 | N/A | N/A |
| Madison | $2,735 | $1,482 | N/A | N/A |
| Manatee | $3,181 | $1,859 | $1,368 | $992 |
| Marion | $2,191 | $1,766 | $1,081 | $539 |
| Martin | $5,899 | $2,471 | $1,765 | $887 |
| Miami-Dade | $5,975 | $3,779 | $2,801 | $1,764 |
| Monroe | $7,863 | $1,871 | $3,474 | $1,323 |
| Nassau | $3,051 | $1,608 | $1,809 | $1,209 |
| Okaloosa | $3,889 | $1,889 | $1,729 | $991 |
| Okeechobee | $3,730 | $1,973 | $1,476 | $696 |
| Orange | $3,610 | $2,565 | $1,295 | $838 |
| Osceola | $2,940 | $2,433 | $1,278 | $967 |
| Palm Beach | $6,323 | $3,175 | $2,311 | $1,703 |
| Pasco | $2,756 | $1,917 | $994 | $663 |
| Pinellas | $4,063 | $2,034 | $1,399 | $913 |
| Polk | $2,767 | $2,185 | $1,149 | $787 |
| Putnam | $2,621 | $1,768 | $995 | N/A |
| Santa Rosa | $3,512 | $1,951 | $1,872 | $927 |
| Sarasota | $3,457 | $1,482 | $1,759 | $1,052 |
| Seminole | $3,545 | $2,372 | $1,202 | $785 |
| St. Johns | $2,883 | $2,055 | $1,329 | $1,047 |
| St. Lucie | $3,491 | $1,932 | $1,582 | $1,060 |
| Sumter | $2,105 | $1,352 | $1,025 | N/A |
| Suwannee | $2,749 | $1,783 | $683 | N/A |
| Taylor | $2,698 | $1,300 | $1,090 | N/A |
| Union | $2,667 | $3,475 | N/A | N/A |
| Volusia | $2,808 | $1,637 | $1,170 | $873 |
| Wakulla | $2,292 | $1,956 | $1,087 | $907 |
| Walton | $5,409 | $1,891 | $2,031 | $1,208 |
| Washington | $2,871 | $2,628 | N/A | N/A |
Premiums still differ sharply by county
- Monroe had the highest average homeowners premium including wind coverage at $7,863.
- Palm Beach followed at $6,323, Broward at $6,136, Miami-Dade at $5,975 and Martin at $5,899.
- Lower averages appeared in counties such as Sumter at $2,105, Marion at $2,191 and Wakulla at $2,292.
Condominium unit owner insurance premiums also showed coastal pressure
Miami-Dade reported an average condominium unit owner premium including wind coverage of $2,801, Monroe $3,474, Palm Beach $2,311 and Collier $2,271.
Florida domestic property insurers reported better financial results
OIR said the market continued its recovery in 2025, with a pooled combined ratio of 83%, the lowest in more than a decade. Domestic property insurers reported positive net income in 2024 after years of underwriting losses.
Loss reserve development also improved. Domestic residential property companies found that 2024 claims were about $377 mn lower than estimated after one year, showing favorable development.
For 2023 claims, reserves developed adversely by about $189 mn at the two-year mark.
OIR treated the favorable one-year development as another sign that litigation reforms are affecting the market. Claims uncertainty matters because reinsurers charge more when future loss estimates look unstable. Less reserve volatility gives insurers and reinsurers a clearer pricing picture.
Property reinsurance also showed better conditions
The reinsurance section of the report also showed better conditions. Preliminary 2026 Annual Reinsurance Data Call results suggest nearly half of participating insurers are seeing risk-adjusted pricing reductions between 15% and 25%.
OIR said early data point to a favorable reinsurance market with strong reinsurer capital, competition between traditional and alternative markets, and better contract terms.
The 2025 catastrophe stress test placed insurers under severe hypothetical hurricane scenarios
- In one scenario involving storms similar to Hurricane Charley, Hurricane Dora and the 1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane, modeled insured losses reached $39.9 bn. Reinsurance reduced projected net insurer losses to $12.7 bn.
- A second scenario, modeled on the 1928 Lake Okeechobee Hurricane, Hurricane Michael and Hurricane Wilma, produced $78.1 bn in modeled insured losses. Reinsurance reduced net losses to $18.4 bn.
- A third scenario using Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Donna produced $74.6 bn in modeled insured losses, with net losses after reinsurance at $21.2 bn.
OIR said 61 insurers, or 91% of stress-test participants, showed high recovery potential. Four insurers, or 6%, showed moderate recovery potential. Two insurers, or 3%, showed low recovery potential, though OIR said both had parent companies with adequate capital to support them.
No named storms made landfall in Florida during the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, and no Florida catastrophe reinsurance programs were materially affected.
OIR noted that the 2024 season included three storms affecting Florida, with estimated insured losses of $8.2 bn, far below the stress-test scenarios.
The Property Insurer Stability Unit
The Property Insurer Stability Unit referred 19 insurers for enhanced monitoring from Dec. 3, 2025, through June 11, 2026. Referral reasons included 15 referrals for violating written premium ratio limits, seven for late financial statement filings, two for late own-risk solvency assessment filings and one tied to a reinsurance agreement lacking meaningful transfer of loss risk.
Only one of the 19 referred insurers was added to enhanced monitoring during the period. As of the report date, 11 companies remained subject to enhanced monitoring, down from the January report.
OIR said no property and casualty insurers have been referred to the Florida Department of Financial Services for delinquency proceedings since March 1, 2023.
Market conduct work has expanded since the reforms
OIR said it has started 125 market conduct examinations, completed more than 745 investigations and secured over $63.9 mn in consumer restitution. After Hurricanes Ian and Idalia, OIR conducted 16 claims-handling examinations and penalized 10 companies for a total of $2.575 mn.
OIR said no insurer has faced a market conduct examination finding that it used appraisal in a willful unfair trade practice pattern involving property claims.
The regulator’s main message is straightforward: Florida’s property insurance market remains expensive and catastrophe-exposed, but claim volume, litigation, Citizens exposure and reinsurance pricing have moved in a better direction.
OIR wants the market to keep recovering without major legislative disruption, and it plans to keep tracking litigation, solvency, claims handling, reinsurance costs and county-level premiums through future stability reports.
What did Florida’s OIR report about homeowners insurance claims?
Florida accounted for 4.85% of US homeowners property insurance claims opened in 2025. That was the state’s lowest share in 10 years and down from 12.33% in 2024.
Did Florida’s share of homeowners insurance lawsuits also fall?
Yes. Florida accounted for 41.29% of US homeowners insurance suits opened in 2025, down from 73.15% in 2024. The 2025 figure was also the state’s lowest in a decade.
Why does OIR link the decline to legislative reforms?
OIR points to property insurance reforms passed from 2019 through 2024, including limits on assignment of benefits disputes, changes to claims litigation rules and the repeal of most one-way attorney fee statutes.
How much did insurers spend on defense cost and containment expenses?
Florida domestic homeowners insurers paid about $57.8 mn in direct defense cost and containment expenses in 2025. The average cost per claim fell from $947.38 in 2022 to $720 in 2025.
How many property claims did Florida insurers close in 2025?
Insurers reported 456,200 unique closed claims in 2025. That total included 53,413 litigated claims and 387,931 non-litigated claims.
How much more expensive were litigated claims to manage?
Average loss adjustment expense for litigated claims was $15,257 across all perils. For non-litigated claims, the average was $2,044.
What happened to Citizens Property Insurance Corporation?
Citizens had 293,465 policies in force as of June 5, 2026, its lowest level in 25 years. OIR said Citizens is no longer Florida’s largest property insurer after years of depopulation and market recovery.
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AUTHORS: Yana Keller – Insurance Editor at Beinsure Media, Nataly Kramer – Lead Insurance Editor at Beinsure,
