The state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. added more than 4,000 policies last week, as leaders said they expect the number of customers to drop late in the year.
Citizens had 1,207,292 policies on Friday, up from 1,202,696 policies a week earlier and 1,198,265 policies two weeks earlier, according to data on its 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.
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Hurricane season started on June 1 and Citizens officials have said they do not expect private carriers to take out policies over the next few months as insurers look to avoid taking on more risks.
However, the Citizens’ President and CEO Tim Cerio said during a meeting last week that new estimates show that citizens could have fewer than 1 million policies by the end of the year.
“Hopefully, October, November, December will be very active (for depopulation),” Jennifer Montero, Citizens chief financial officer, said during the meeting of the Citizens Board of Governors. “That’s the expectation.” Hurricane season will end Nov. 30.
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