Homeowner Insurance Costs Fell in Q4 2024

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Homeowner insurance costs fell by 0.7% between the third and fourth quarters of 2024, a result of declining rates that insurance officials in Florida have been touting for the past several months.

The decline in costs of multiperil insurance for owners of single-family houses — from an average premium of $3,668 to $3,644 — marks the first time that costs have dropped since the Office of Insurance Regulation began releasing quarterly Residential Market Share Reports in mid-2022.

Average premium costs are revealed by dividing the total premiums by the number of policyholders reported by companies.

Stacey Giulianti, chief legal officer for Florida Peninsula Insurance, which saw a 3.9% decline in average homeowner premiums, said the result reflects recent reforms that the Florida Legislature enacted to reduce costs resulting from runaway litigation.

“As experts have been predicting for the last few years, the strong actions of the Florida Legislature and governor to decrease frivolous litigation are starting to show solid reductions in personal residential insurance rates,” Giulianti said. “This pro-consumer trend will continue, unless the Legislature makes the big mistake of reversing it in the current session.”

The Legislature is considering several proposals to require insurers to reinstate payment of legal fees to policyholders who prevail in litigation. Since the 2022 reforms, policyholders have been required to pay legal fees out of their own pockets or as a percentage of any amount awarded by the court.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys contend the reforms unfairly deprived policyholders of an important tool to challenge underpayments or claim denials.

Insurance officials have argued against the proposals, saying the reforms have succeeded in stabilizing costs.

Since January 2024, 17 companies filed for rate decreases and 34 requested no changes or no increases, Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky said recently.

The newest report indicates that average prices for coverage of condominium units declined as well for the first time in the report’s history, by 1.7%, from $1,737 to $1,707.

Average premiums paid by condo associations in the fourth quarter fell for the second straight time — by 2.5% — following a decline of 3.0% between the second and third quarters. Still, those decreases followed a cumulative increase of 103% between the second quarters of 2022 and 2024.

The 0.7% decline in what homeowners paid for multiperil single-family homeowner coverage follows a 3.1% increase between the second and third quarters of 2024. That 3.1% increase followed identical hikes of 1.3% between the first and second quarters, and second and third quarters, and those increases were significantly lower than previous hikes ranging from 2.6% to 4.8% in 2022 and 2023.

Whether the decrease marks the beginning of a trend is not yet known.

The sharpest declines were reported by companies that have been active in depopulating policies from state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp., including Manatee Insurance Exchange, American Integrity, Monarch National, Florida Peninsula, and Slide Insurance.

State law requires private market insurers that take out Citizens customers in the middle of their policy terms to retain Citizens’ rates for the remainder of those terms. Citizens officials have repeatedly estimated that the company charges about 30% less than companies in the private market.

Newcomer Manatee Insurance showed an average premium decline of 11.7% as it scooped up Citizens policies. Manatee’s average cost fell from $3,859 with 12,566 policies at the end of the third quarter to $3,407 with 56,663 policies at the end of the fourth quarter.

And while decreasing costs will give policyholders an opportunity to catch their breath, consumers in the state are still paying home insurance costs that are among the highest in the country.

Since the first market share report was issued for the second quarter of 2022, the average premium has increased by 30.2% Those increases followed reforms enacted that year that insurance officials predicted would eventually lead to stabilized rates or even declines.

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