Florida's property insurance market spent most of the last decade defined by double-digit rate hikes and carrier exits. That trend line is bending. Since lawmakers overhauled the state's tort and claims-litigation rules in 2022, the state's Office of Insurance Regulation has logged more than 190 residential rate filings that either cut premiums or held them flat, according to OIR figures reported by Insurance Journal. As of July 2026, the 30-day average across residential filings sat at a 6.9% decrease, and OIR has approved a weighted-average decrease of 1.5% across homeowners, mobile home, farmowners, dwelling fire, allied lines and earthquake business since July 2025 — a figure that excludes the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. (Insurance Journal).
The filings behind those averages are notable on their own. Boca Raton-based Edison Insurance recently filed a use-and-file request for a 9.8% average residential rate decrease, effective for renewals starting July 15, 2026 — one entry in a growing list of Florida carriers trimming rates in the reform's wake, per Insurance Journal. On the earnings side, Universal Insurance Holdings reported its combined ratio improved to 91.6% in the second quarter of 2026, down from 97.8% a year earlier, with CEO Stephen Donaghy pointing to the 2022 legislative changes as the driver behind lower litigation and reinsurance costs (Insurance Journal).
For agency owners, this shifts the growth conversation. Retention gets easier when renewal notices carry decreases instead of shock increases, and new business conversations change when the pitch isn't just about coverage but about a market that's stabilizing after years of dysfunction. That's a meaningfully different sales environment than the one most Florida agents have operated in since 2019.
It isn't settled policy, though. Florida's 2026 governor's race has put the regulatory framework back in play. Candidate Byron Donalds has floated an "Insurer Scorecard" dashboard meant to let consumers compare carriers before buying, arguing the state's property insurance rules haven't been meaningfully rewritten in nearly 25 years, according to Insurance Business America. Whether that translates into new transparency mandates, a more assertive OIR posture, or something more structural is an open question agents should watch through the election cycle — reform fatigue and reform momentum are both live possibilities for 2027 renewal cycles.
The catastrophe fund backstop looks solid heading into the coming season. The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund projects a fund balance near $11.26 billion and roughly $13.51 billion in total available liquid resources for the 2026-2027 contract year, against a maximum statutory liability of $17.40 billion, per figures Insurance Business America attributes to the FHCF. That cushion matters for how confidently carriers keep filing decreases through hurricane season.
Texas offers a useful contrast for agents writing coastal risk in both states. The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association is recommending no rate increase for 2027 policies, a call officials describe as reflecting the strongest financial position the pool has held, according to KIII-TV in Corpus Christi. A second consecutive flat year from TWIA is unusual enough to be worth noting to coastal clients directly.
Agency structure underneath these trends still varies by metro. Public state licensing and carrier-appointment records show Florida's independent agency channel remains large and fragmented — 9,945 independent P&C agencies statewide, with Miami's 2,518 agencies carrying a median of 15 carrier appointments and just 6% single-carrier dependency, versus Jacksonville's smaller, more carrier-diversified base of 523 agencies. Texas, by comparison, shows 9,100 independent agencies with 99.7% of the market still independently owned, per the same public licensing data. Agents evaluating where reform tailwinds and market structure line up can review county-level detail at Pexara's Florida intelligence page.
None of this guarantees the rate environment holds. But for agencies that have spent years managing client anger over increases, three years of reform-driven filings — plus two flat years out of TWIA — is the first real evidence the regulatory pendulum has stopped swinging in one direction.