The community of Steinhatchee, Fla., returned to their small town after the Cat. 4 Hurricane Helene battered the West Coast of Florida in September 2024, only to find it devasted by the storm's destructive winds and over ten-foot storm surge. (Credit: Brigida Sanchez/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District)
Recent premium increases, surplus growth and legislative changes in Florida have reinsurers well positioned for the 2025 hurricane season, Fitch Ratings reports. According to Fitch’s data, industry policyholders’ surplus grew 6.5% in 2024 to $1.1 trillion, and they predict that surplus will continue to show modest growth in 2025.
The NOAA predicts this year's Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1 and runs through the end of November, will bring above-average activity. They expect the U.S. will see somewhere between 13 and 19 named storms with 6 to 10 of them becoming hurricanes. Of those hurricanes, they expect somewhere between 3 and 5 of them will become major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.
In 2024, the Atlantic hurricane season produced 18 named storms. Eleven of these storms became hurricanes, with five achieving Category 3 or higher.
Fitch states that legislative and regulatory tort reforms in the state of Florida over the last several years have stabilized quickly growing loss and claim litigation costs. They note that while initial indicators show these reforms to be beneficial, the broader return of capacity from high-rated carriers to the state has been limited.
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, Florida’s insurer of last resort, has seen a drop-off in the number of policies it carriers; falling from about 1.4 million at its peak in 2023 to 813,000 as of May 2025. Fitch expects these policy counts will continue to decline as more Floridians move to private carriers.
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