In another measure of the remarkable turnaround of the Florida insurance market, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s share of the market has dropped to just 2% for the first time in more than 15 years, Citizens’ president said at a board meeting Tuesday.
As of the end of March 2026, Florida-based carriers held 70% of the market in the state, with “pups”—Florida subsidiaries of national writers—taking 15%, President Tim Cerio’s report explained. Citizens’ share has dropped from a high of 23% in 2011, as 2022 legislative changes have made a difference, rates have stabilized and more than 20 new private carriers have entered the state.
Citizens’ overall policy count stood at 293,772 policies at the end of May, down sharply from a high of 1.4 million in 2023. New personal-lines structures written each year have dropped from 571,375 in 2022 to just 31,871 so far this year. For Citizens’ commercial lines, new buildings written have fallen from a high of almost 35,000 in 2023 to 131 this year.
The commercial lines number may drop further in coming years, partly because of a new commercial clearinghouse mandated by the Florida Legislature this spring.
In a measure of one of the biggest drivers of property insurers’ costs, the share of Citizens’ claims that were litigated in 2025 fell to its lowest level since 2018—to 5%, Cerio’s report noted. The number of lawsuits dropped to 4,353 for Citizens in 2025, marking a steady decline from 2022 when Florida lawmakers clamped limits on one-way attorney fees and ended assignment-of-benefits agreements.
Citizens staff also track litigation for all other insurers in Florida, and the drop in the trend line is even starker: All other insurers had seen lawsuits climb from 18,077 in 2013 to a high of 127,915 in 2021. But by 2025, the number had dropped to 86,618, Cerio’s presentation pointed out.
Since October, Miami Beach police have identified and removed about 140 vessels that were left to rot in the tropical heat. More sit half-submerged or anchored across the Bay, near some of the most expensive real estate in America.
“A lot of people buy a boat but don’t realize how much it costs for fuel, maintenance and marina fees,” said Sergeant Javier Fernandez, commander of the Miami Beach police marine unit, as he surveyed the abandoned vessels about 100 yards off Star Island aboard the department’s 32-foot Contender center console patrol boat.
Suddenly, a sunken cabin cruiser, more than 30 feet long, came into view in the clear, shallow waters ahead, the top of its rotting wheelhouse jutting out at an odd angle. Fernandez’s boat turned to port to avoid a dangerous collision.
“This is where they end up,” he said.
The marine graveyard is one downside of an unprecedented surge in boating since the pandemic, spurred in part by an influx of well-to-do newcomers. With wealth flooding into Miami, boats have gotten bigger, driving up costs for things like marina space and maintenance for everyone. There were roughly 1.2 million registered boats in Florida in 2024, more than any other state, and up about 20% since 2023, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association.
