Citizens Property Insurance exists because at various points the private market has not been willing to write Florida property at any price. It was never meant to be the largest property insurer in the state, and for a while it was.
The direction of travel
Citizens reported around 294,000 policies in force in mid-May 2026, against about 819,000 a year earlier and a peak near 1.42 million in October 2023 (Citizens, published depopulation figures). That is a very fast contraction by the standards of any insurer, and it is deliberate policy rather than an accident of the market.
Separately, Citizens’ 2026 personal lines rates were approved downward, with homeowners multiperil at roughly minus 8.8 per cent and wind-only at roughly minus 5.5 per cent, effective 1 July 2026. A rate decrease at a residual market insurer is unusual enough to be worth noting, and it is a signal about the private market as much as about Citizens.
What it means if you are in it
Mostly, that you should expect letters, and that the letters have deadlines. Take-out offers arrive in tranches, and for many of them silence is consent. There is also an eligibility rule: a private offer within a defined margin of your Citizens premium can end your eligibility on renewal whether you accept it or not.
None of that is a reason to panic and none of it is a reason to ignore the post. It is a reason to read each letter with the current declarations page beside it, which is a twenty-minute job we are happy to do with you at any of the four offices.