Florida’s Property Insurance Market Is Ailing; There Is No Quick Fix

Florida’s property insurance market posted one of its worst financial performances in 2020, even without a hurricane making landfall in the Sunshine State, and policyholders are starting to pay the price.

Experts say there is no quick fix to the challenges buffeting the industry.

Fifty-six Florida insurers reported a combined $1.57 billion in underwriting losses, according to financial data obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, spending more on claims and expenses than they brought in through premiums.

The figure marks the industry’s fifth consecutive year of losses in the state and is more than two-and-a-half times what those companies lost in 2019.

‘Florida is clearly a deteriorating market,’ said Mark Friedlander, the state’s representative for the Insurance Information Institute, an industry trade association.