The 2026 Florida Property Insurance Claim Report

The state of Florida property insurance in 2026

Three years after the 2022-2023 reform package (SB 2A, SB 2D, and HB 837), Florida's property insurance market has measurably stabilized on the carrier side: Citizens is shrinking, new insurers are entering, and rate increases have flattened. What has not changed is how hard an individual claim can be to get paid in full. This report pulls the public data together and translates it into what it means for a policyholder with an open claim.

Every figure below is dated and sourced. See the Methodology and sources section at the end.

What the 2022-2023 reforms changed

• Assignment of Benefits (AOB) restrictions under Fla. Stat. 627.7152 sharply reduced contractor-driven AOB litigation.
• One-way attorney fees were eliminated for property suits, removing the fee-shifting that drove much of the prior litigation.
• Shorter notice deadlines under Fla. Stat. 627.70132: 1 year to report a claim or reopened claim, 18 months for a supplemental claim.
• Faster carrier response duties under Fla. Stat. 627.70131: acknowledge in 7 days, pay or deny in 60.
• The Insurer Accountability Act (SB 7052, 2023) added claims-handling-manual requirements and larger regulator fines.

The 2026 market by the numbers

Citizens is shrinking fast

The clearest signal of stabilization is the state-backed insurer of last resort getting smaller. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation peaked near 1.42 million policies in October 2023, fell below 1 million by December 2024, and stood at 777,592 policies in June 2025. In November 2025, for the first time in years, Citizens was no longer the largest property insurer in Florida. Since January 2024, roughly 677,920 Citizens policies have been transferred to private carriers through the OIR-approved depopulation program.

New capacity is entering

The private market is absorbing that shift. Since the 2022-2023 reforms, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has approved more than a dozen new property and casualty insurers, part of more than $850 million in new capital committed to the state.

Rates are flattening, and some are falling

After years of double-digit increases, the average residential premium for the largest 16 Florida insurers rose less than 1% in 2025, and 10 carriers' average premiums actually fell, some by as much as 11%. Citizens and several private carriers filed rate decreases for 2026. One 2026 analysis estimated that Florida insurance costs are about 14.5% lower than they would have been without the litigation and tort reforms.

Claims closed without payment: read the number carefully

The most alarming property-insurance statistic in Florida is the share of claims "closed without payment." According to a Weiss Ratings analysis of Florida regulatory data, in 2024 14 Florida property insurers closed more than half of their homeowner claims with no payment, and 9 more closed 40% to 50% of claims with nothing paid.

That number deserves careful reading, in both directions:

• It overstates outright denial. "Closed without payment" also captures claims that came in below the deductible, claims the policyholder withdrew, and duplicates. A below-deductible loss closing with no payment is not a wrongful denial. Insurers and the state have made exactly this point when the figure is cited.
• It still understates the problem for many homeowners. A claim that closes with nothing paid because it was scoped just under the deductible, or because the homeowner gave up, is a claim where full documentation might have changed the result. Below-deductible closure being the largest single driver is the reason documenting the complete scope, enough to clear the deductible and support a supplement, matters so much.

The practical lesson is not "carriers deny everything." It is that a large share of Florida claims end with no money paid, and whether yours is one of them often turns on how completely the loss is documented before the file closes.

The 2026 policyholder playbook

1. Report every loss promptly. The 1-year notice window under 627.70132 runs tight, and late notice is one of the easiest grounds for a carrier to bar a claim.
2. Document the full scope before the file closes. Below-deductible and under-scoped closures are the largest reason claims pay nothing. A complete, line-item estimate is what clears the deductible and supports a supplement.
3. Hold the carrier to its statutory clock. 627.70131's 7-day acknowledgment and 60-day pay-or-deny deadlines create real leverage, and, post-SB 7052, more regulatory weight, when missed.
4. Use the 18-month supplemental window. For an initial settlement that under-scoped the loss, a documented supplemental claim is often the primary recovery path.
5. Bring in licensed representation early. Public adjuster fees are capped by Fla. Stat. 626.854; the variance in claim outcomes is not.

Methodology and sources

This report is a synthesis of public data, not a proprietary survey. Figures are drawn from primary and authoritative sources, dated to the reporting period shown, and interpreted by Ocean Point's licensed public adjusters. Market conditions and carrier-level figures change; where a number is time-sensitive, we cite the date it reflects.

Primary and authoritative sources:

• Citizens Property Insurance Corporation policy-count releases (citizensfla.com)
• Florida Office of Insurance Regulation market updates and new-entrant announcements (floir.gov)
• Weiss Ratings analysis of Florida regulatory (FLOIR) claims data, as reported in 2024-2025
• Florida Phoenix and Insurance Journal reporting on Citizens' market position, rate filings, and claims-closed-without-payment data
• The Florida Statutes and reform bills, quoted on our statute library