By Peter Crowe, President, FOCUS 
December 2025 

After several years of volatility, the Florida P&C insurance market in 2025 entered a markedly different phase than the years that preceded it. It was a year defined less by survival and more by stability, discipline, and cautious growth. From an operator’s perspective, the change has been striking. What was once a market defined by litigation risk, capital flight, and shrinking capacity is now showing measurable signs of recovery driven by legislative reform, renewed competition, and a return to underwriting and operational discipline. 

That doesn’t mean Florida has become “easy.” It hasn’t. But 2025 demonstrated that with the right regulatory framework and execution across claims, underwriting, and catastrophe response, this market can function and even grow. 

Market Growth and New Entrants 

The most visible sign of change in 2025 was the influx of new insurers. Since the reforms enacted in 2022 and 2023, Florida approved more than 15 new property carriers, including startups, reciprocal exchanges, and Florida-domiciled insurers focused on disciplined growth. Collectively, these entrants added over $570 million in surplus capital, an almost unthinkable development just a few years ago. 

Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky has described the current environment plainly: competition is back. From where I sit, that competition has translated into something the market badly needed: choice. Agents are once again presenting alternatives. Policyholders are seeing stable pricing. And carriers are competing on execution, not just survival. 

Rate filings tell the story.  

After years of double-digit increases, Florida’s average homeowner rate increase hovered around 1% in 2024 and remained essentially flat through 2025. In some cases, insurers even filed for modest decreases. For policyholders, this has been a long-overdue reset. 

Litigation and Claims: A Structural Shift 

No single issue distorted Florida’s insurance market more than litigation. The reforms eliminating one-way attorney fees and curbing assignment-of-benefits abuse changed that dynamic in a very real way. 

By mid-2025, property insurance litigation volumes were down nearly 25% year-over-year. Citizens saw new claim lawsuits drop by more than a third, and defense costs followed suit. Regulators reported that fewer than 9% of closed residential claims involved litigation in 2024 (a number that would have seemed impossible just a few years earlier). 

From an operational standpoint, this matters enormously. Claims resolve faster. Expenses are more predictable. Resources can be redirected toward customer communication, quality adjusting, and proper settlement rather than courtroom defense. 

The cost differential reinforces the point: litigated claims continue to cost many times more than non-litigated ones. Reducing unnecessary litigation didn’t just help insurers’ balance sheets, it restored a healthier claims environment overall. 

Catastrophe Experience: Lessons Reinforced 

Florida was fortunate in 2025. No major hurricanes made landfall, giving carriers room to rebuild surplus and benefit from the reforms already in place. That calm followed an extraordinarily difficult late 2024, when Hurricanes Helene and Milton delivered more than $110 billion in combined insured losses. 

Those storms tested every part of the insurance ecosystem (IYKYK), including claims intake, vendor management, reinsurance recovery, customer service, and regulatory coordination. Importantly, they also validated the importance of preparation. Carriers with strong reinsurance programs, disciplined operations, and scalable response models weathered the events without triggering assessments or solvency concerns. 

Citizens’ performance was a case in point. Despite its size, it navigated the storms without emergency measures, reflecting stronger financial management and operational readiness across the market. 

Regulatory Refinements Continue 

While the major reforms were already in place, 2025 brought targeted legislative updates aimed at reinforcing stability: 

• Roofing reform addressed post-storm abuses and strengthened mitigation standards. 
• Expanded flood disclosures improved transparency and underwriting clarity. 
• Condo insurance updates reduced underinsurance risk and promoted safer, better-maintained properties. 

These were changes that mattered. 

Profitability and Capital Return 

The financial results speak for themselves. Florida domestic insurers reported nearly $1 billion in net income for 2024, following years of losses. Early indicators suggest that 2025 continued that trend, aided by lower litigation costs and a quiet storm season. 

Capital has followed profitability. New investment flowed into both new and existing carriers, reinforcing underwriting capacity and surplus positions. Notably, no Florida domestic insurer failed in 2025. This is a sharp contrast to the insolvencies of the early 2020s. 

The relaunch of Patriot Select, following the run-off of Anchor Property & Casualty, underscored renewed investor confidence. The narrative has shifted from exit to entry, from contraction to measured growth. 

A Profitable (and Cautious) Outlook 

By the end of 2025, Florida’s P&C market looked healthier than it had in years. Litigation is down. Premiums have stabilized. Capital has returned. Citizens is shrinking back toward its intended role. 

But no one in this market is under any illusion that the work is done. 

Florida remains one major storm away from another stress test. Reinsurance costs remain elevated. Affordability challenges persist for many homeowners. And regulatory balance must be maintained to avoid undoing recent progress. 

Still, 2025 marked something important: proof that Florida’s risks can be managed. With disciplined underwriting, sound regulation, and strong operational execution, even the most challenging insurance market in the country can move toward sustainability. 

For those of us who operate in this environment every day (we’ve been doing it for 25 years), that’s not just encouraging, it’s essential.

1. The Insurer – Reforms Fuel Florida Insurance Revival (Oct. 2025) 

2. Florida Office of Insurance Regulation – Property Insurance Stability Report (July 2025) 

3. Reinsurance News – 2025 Catastrophe Outlook