Citizens Property Insurance approaches 1.23 million policies in Florida

The state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. ended last week with nearly 1.229 million policies, as Florida gets ready for the most-active parts of hurricane season.

Citizens had 1,228,928 policies as of Friday, up from 1,223,778 policies a week earlier and 1,220,271 two weeks earlier, according to data on the Citizens website.

Citizens, which was created as an insurer of last resort, has become the state’s largest carrier in recent years as private companies dropped policies and raised rates because of financial problems.

Citizens reached as many as 1.412 million policies in fall 2023 before seeing reductions because of what is known as a “depopulation” program designed to shift policies into the private market.

With hurricane season starting June 1, Citizens officials have said they do not expect private carriers to take out policies during the summer and part of fall.

But Citizens President and CEO Tim Cerio said recently that estimates show Citizens could have fewer than 1 million policies by the end of the year.

Hurricane season will end Nov. 30.