Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Sheds Policies Amidst Market Stabilization
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has approved three private insurers to take on a significant number of policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., as the state continues its strategy to reduce the insurer of last resort’s footprint. This move comes as the property insurance market shows signs of stabilization, ahead of the upcoming hurricane season.
According to approval orders issued earlier in March, Patriot Select Property and Casualty Insurance Co. is authorized to assume up to 39,500 policies. Slide Insurance Co. received approval for 15,000 policies, and Mangrove Property Insurance Co. can take on up to 81,040 policies. This represents further progress in the state’s plan to transition policies away from Citizens and into the private market.
Citizens spokesperson Michael Peltier reported that, through the end of February, a total of 102,253 policies had already been transferred to private insurers. This indicates a continuing trend of reducing the number of policies held by the state-backed insurer.
Mark Friedlander, senior director of media relations at the Insurance Information Institute, noted that this depopulation strategy is benefiting from recent improvements in Florida’s property insurance market. Friedlander cited legal reforms targeting abuses in the legal system and assignment of benefits claim fraud as contributors to decreased costs and increased private market involvement.
Citizens also announced that they are seeking $2.94 billion in new private risk transfer as part of its $4.54 billion private reinsurance coverage plan for 2025. This action forms part of Citizens’ plan to ensure adequate coverage and maintain financial stability.
Citizens Policies Take-Out Progress
Citizens has seen considerable changes in its policy counts and depopulation initiatives between 2023 and 2025. In 2023, private insurers gained approval to assume as many as 1 million policies from Citizens, with roughly 407,643 policies successfully transferred to the private market.
Efforts to depopulate ramped up during 2024. By the end of that year, more than 428,000 policies had been shifted from Citizens’ books through take-out offers.
The trend continues into the present year. By February, Citizens’ policy count had fallen to around 844,688, which is the lowest level in almost three years. As of mid-March, Citizens reported 851,210 active policies, a decrease from 936,182 at the end of 2024.
Citizens is actively reducing the number of policies it holds through take-out programs.
