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Florida Homeowners Get an
Insurance Break—and Condo Owners Are the Biggest Winners |
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Article Courtesy of The Realtor
By Snejana Farberov
Published August 21, 2025
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If the
state insurance regulator greenlights Peninsula’s plan, the company says
most of its clients will be seeing a "significant premium decrease"
later this year or in early 2026. It will also mark the insurer's
largest rate cut ever.
This should come as welcome news for Florida's homeowners, who have been
forced to pay some of the highest insurance premiums in the U.S., driven
in part by the state's geographic exposure to destructive hurricanes and
flooding, surging reinsurance costs, and litigation activity.
Hopeful signs for homeowners
Experts suggest that Peninsula's planned rate cut might be an early
indicator that Florida's distressed insurance industry is finally on the
road to recovery.
"This is a good sign that the market conditions have not only stabilized
but are improving," Charles Nyce, interim executive director of Risk
Management & Insurance Center at Florida State University, tells
Realtor.com®. "As all of the old litigated cases close, I do expect to
see other insurers reduce premiums."
But Nyce warns that some things are beyond insurers' control, no matter
how well-intentioned they may be.
"There are still two factors that are really outside the control of
Floridians: the reinsurance market and storm activity," notes the risk
management expert. "These two things are highly related. If we can avoid
major storms (which will help keep reinsurance costs down), competition
can continue to reduce rates for Floridians."
Coincidentally, the North Atlantic hurricane season is currently in full
swing, with Hurricane Erin, a powerful Category 4 storm, currently
churning past the Bahamas.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the likelihood
of a more intense-than-typical hurricane season is 50%, with the agency
expecting up to 18 named storms with winds of at least 39 mph. Between
five and nine of the storms could become hurricanes with winds of 74 mph
or higher. Of those, 2 to 5 could escalate to major hurricanes with
winds of 111 mph or more.
The first hurricane of the 2025 season, Erin is not expected to make
landfall in the U.S., but it will generate dangerous rip currents up and
down the East Coast.
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