Three years ago, Florida brokers placing homeowners risks faced a contracting carrier market, a state-backed insurer holding policies nobody else would write, and litigation costs making coverage unaffordable for clients. A new white paper published by the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) documents how far conditions have shifted since the state's 2022 and 2023 legislative reforms.
The paper draws on data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), S&P Global Market Intelligence, and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR).
The reform story starts with litigation. Before 2022, assignment-of-benefits (AOB) agreements let contractors bill insurers directly, often without the insurer's knowledge. One-way attorney fee rules compounded the problem. If a settlement exceeded the insurer's offer by even $1, the carrier paid all opposing legal costs. In 2021, Florida generated 7% of the nation's homeowners claims but 76% of its homeowners lawsuits, according to OIR data cited in the paper.
The 2022 legislation ended both practices. AOB-related lawsuit filings fell from a peak of roughly 3,500 per month in 2019 to approximately 137 per month by early 2026, based on OIR data in the APCIA report, which represents property casualty insurers and should be read as an industry assessment. Florida's share of national homeowners lawsuits dropped from 79% in 2020 to 41% in 2025, according to the OIR's July 2026 Property Insurance Stability Report, an independent source that corroborates the APCIA's core findings.
Lower litigation costs fed through to underwriting results. Florida domestic property insurers posted a combined ratio of approximately 77% in 2025, the lowest in more than a decade, based on the APCIA report. A combined ratio below 100% indicates an underwriting profit - the lower the figure, the more margin carriers have to compete on price and expand their appetite for risk.
One qualification applies here. Weiss Ratings published analysis in July finding that Florida homeowners still file lawsuits at roughly 10 times the average rate of other US states. The per-claim rate of lawsuits has not declined post-reform. Litigation is down in volume. It has not been eliminated as a cost driver.
Better underwriting results attracted new capital. Since the reforms, 20 new property and casualty insurers have entered Florida, bringing more than $850 million in new capital, according to Florida Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky's May announcement. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation's policy count stood at 278,246 as of June 30, its lowest in history. That is down from approximately 1.4 million in September 2023.
Citizens' market share by total insured value fell from 15% in 2023 to 3% in 2025, according to Citizens' own data cited in the report. For brokers, the carrier count and Citizens' retreat translate directly into placement options. Risks that had no viable private market home three years ago may now have several.
The APCIA report documents the cost movement. Homeowners direct written premiums in Florida fell 7% in 2025, the first decrease since 2009. Filed homeowners rate changes averaged 0.9% in 2025, against annual increases of 8% to 10% between 2020 and 2023.
Florida remains the most expensive state for homeowners insurance. Premiums have moderated, but hurricane exposure, coastal concentration, and reinsurance costs are unchanged. Clients with difficult risk profiles will still face pricing pressure those fundamentals produce.
The APCIA paper is an industry-funded document and its framing reflects that. But its data traces to named primary sources, and the direction of travel it describes is confirmed by independent OIR reports. For brokers placing Florida property risks, the practical read is this: more carriers are writing business, litigation-driven pricing pressure has eased, and filed rates are moving in the right direction. That is a materially different market than the one brokers were working in 2022.
