Ian threatens Florida's already unstable insurance market

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida's property insurance market was already in peril. Now comes Hurricane Ian.

The massive storm that barreled into southwest Florida delivering catastrophic winds, rain and flooding is likely to further damage the insurance market in the state, which has strained under billion-dollar losses, insolvencies and skyrocketing premiums.

The scale of the storm's destruction will become more clear in the coming days but there is concern it could exacerbate existing problems and burden a state insurance program that has already seen a sharp increase in policies as homeowners struggle to find coverage in the private market.

“Florida’s property insurance market was the most volatile in the U.S. before Hurricane Ian formed and will most likely become even more unstable in the wake of the storm," said Mark Friedlander, communications director at the Insurance Information Institute.

The private insurance industry has lost more than $1 billion in each of the last two years and hundreds of thousands of Floridians have had their policies dropped or not renewed. Average annual premiums have risen to more than $4,200 in Florida, triple the national average.

More than a dozen companies have stopped writing new policies in the state, and several have closed shop this year. One company was declared insolvent and placed into receivership this week, as Ian was churning toward Florida.

Homeowners unable to get coverage or priced out of plans have flocked to the state's public insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance, which this summer topped 1 million policies for the first time in almost a decade. Citizens Property Insurance was created by the state legislature in 2002 for Floridians unable to find coverage from private insurers.

State regulators and...