HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – While South Florida wasn’t a direct target for Hurricane Helene, many are wondering if this latest Florida catastrophe will wind up costing homeowners more for property insurance.
But an expert says there will be “zero impact” on South Florida homeowners.
“People look at all this flood damage from yesterday and say, ‘Wow! This will be a big loss,’” Mark Friedlander, with the Insurance Information Institute, said. “It might be when everything is added up, but it’s not property insurance. You need to separate windstorm damage from the flood damage. A lot of people just really don’t realize that.”
Friedlander said Helene directly hit a low populated area. But what about the record number of homes flooded?
“It has zero impact on the bottom line of property insurers because standard home, condo and renter’s policies do not include flood insurance,” he said. “Flood insurance is a separate policy. FEMA says most Florida flood policies are government-backed.”
Florida’s insurance industry has been teetering on collapse in recent years, with several carriers leaving the state. Citizens Insurance proposed up to a 14% rate hike.
But Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislators implemented reforms that put strict limits on lawsuits that can be made against insurers. They also set aside taxpayer money to help as backup insurance for private carriers.
Friedlander said the Florida property insurance market has been stabilizing this year.
“It’s in its best financial position in many years. The capacity to take on risk has been greater than ever before,” he said. “Nine new companies have come into the market.”
To date, more than three dozen Florida property insurers have filed for either rate decreases or zero rate changes this year.
The CEO of the largest privately owned insurance agency, Oscar Seikaly of NSI Insurance Group, says if there is any increase, it is “more likely to be in the Tampa and Tallahassee areas.”
“Why? Because the rates up there have been significantly lower than down here (in South Florida),” he said.
Those rate decreases, we never see as homeowners.
The governor did say the insurance market didn’t react badly after Hurricane Idalia plowed through North Florida last year.
Time will tell if that remains the case during the current hurricane season.
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