By Jeffrey T. Donner, Esq.

July 27, 2026

For years, Florida’s property insurance market has been dominated by one statistic: despite accounting for only a small percentage of the nation’s homeowners’ insurance claims, Florida generated the overwhelming majority of the country’s insurance lawsuits. That imbalance was frequently cited by legislators, insurers, and policy analysts as evidence that the state’s legal system had become a major driver of escalating premiums.

Today, the data tell a very different story.

According to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Florida’s share of homeowners’ insurance lawsuits has dropped dramatically—from approximately 79% of all such lawsuits nationwide in 2020 to roughly 41% in 2025. During the same period, the number of residential property lawsuits filed in Florida has continued to decline, while new insurers have entered the market and Citizens Property Insurance Corporation has shrunk substantially as policyholders move back into the private market. (Insurance Journal)

Those are encouraging developments.

But they also raise an obvious question.

If lawsuits are down, why are so many Florida homeowners still paying historically high insurance premiums?

The Insurance Market Doesn’t Turn Overnight

Insurance premiums are based on anticipated future risk—not simply on last year’s litigation numbers.

Even if litigation costs decline significantly, insurers must account for:

• Hurricane exposure;
• Inflation in construction materials and labor;
• Reinsurance costs;
• Investment returns;
• Historical claim experience; and
• Regulatory approval of future rate filings.

For years, insurers argued that excessive litigation added billions of dollars in unnecessary costs to the Florida market. If those costs are truly disappearing, it takes time before the resulting savings work their way through actuarial models and ultimately into consumer premiums.

Insurance is, by its nature, slow to react.

There Are Signs of Improvement

Although many homeowners have not yet experienced meaningful reductions, there are objective signs that the market is becoming healthier.

Among them:

• More than twenty insurers have entered or re-entered Florida’s residential insurance market.
• Citizens Property Insurance has seen its policy count fall dramatically as private insurers begin writing more business.
• Many insurers have filed for rate reductions or lower increases than in prior years.
• Litigation expenses associated with residential property claims have fallen substantially. (PropertyCasualty360)

Greater competition generally benefits consumers. When insurers are willing to compete for business, pricing pressure eventually follows.

Homeowners Remain Skeptical

Despite these positive indicators, many Floridians remain understandably frustrated.

For several years, homeowners experienced annual premium increases that far outpaced inflation. Some saw coverage restrictions expand while deductibles increased. Others struggled simply to find an insurer willing to write a policy.

Against that backdrop, hearing that insurers are now reporting improved financial performance naturally leads many homeowners to ask:

Where are my savings?

That skepticism is understandable.

Consumers want tangible relief—not merely encouraging statistics.

The Legal Reforms Will Continue to Be Debated

Florida’s insurance reforms fundamentally changed the litigation landscape. Among other things, the Legislature eliminated one-way attorney’s fees in most first-party property insurance disputes and enacted other procedural reforms intended to reduce litigation. Supporters argue these changes were necessary to stabilize the insurance market, while critics contend they have made it more difficult for homeowners to challenge wrongful claim denials. (PropertyCasualty360)

Reasonable people can disagree about whether every reform struck the proper balance.

What is becoming increasingly difficult to dispute, however, is that litigation has declined substantially.

The more important question now is whether consumers will ultimately receive the benefit that was promised.

What Florida Homeowners Should Watch

Over the next several renewal cycles, homeowners should pay attention to several trends:

• Whether additional insurers continue entering the Florida market.
• Whether more carriers seek rate decreases instead of increases.
• Whether competition expands coverage options.
• Whether claims are adjusted fairly and paid promptly.
• Whether premium reductions become widespread rather than isolated.

The true measure of success will not be how many lawsuits disappear.

It will be whether Florida homeowners finally see a stable, competitive insurance market that provides meaningful coverage at prices they can afford.

Only time—and future premium notices—will answer that question.