After four hard years, Florida’s property insurance market is finally turning. The state has approved rate cuts, new insurers are competing for business, and even Citizens, the state backed insurer, is lowering rates. For condominium and homeowners association boards, that is good news. A softer market only helps, though, if the amount you insure to is accurate. Here is what is changing, and why a current replacement cost appraisal is how your association actually captures the savings.
What is changing
Citizens is cutting rates. For 2026, Citizens approved lower multiperil rates statewide, its first broad decrease in years. The state keeps approving more. In early October, regulators approved an average 12.8 percent cut for more than 120,000 renters policies, following homeowners decreases approved in late September. And competition is back: since the 2022 and 2023 reforms, around 18 new property insurers have entered Florida, and carriers are again writing condominium association business. More options at renewal is the result.
It is not even, and that matters
Not every building sees a decrease. Newer, inland buildings are seeing flat or lower rates, while older coastal buildings and those with recent claims can still see increases. Flood, directors and officers, and liability coverage are also still climbing. So the real question for your board is not only whether rates are down. It is whether you are carrying the right amount of coverage for what your buildings would actually cost to rebuild.
Why your coverage number decides the savings
Your property premium is the carrier’s rate multiplied by the amount of coverage you buy. When you insure to an accurate replacement cost, you are not paying for coverage you do not need, and you are not left exposed by a number that is too low. In a softening market, that accuracy is where the real savings live. An outdated value can quietly cost you either way: overpaying on inflated coverage, or sitting underinsured and facing a shortfall after a loss.
Florida law already points here. Condominium associations must base their property coverage on the building’s replacement cost, set by an independent appraisal and updated on a regular schedule. A value that reflects today’s construction costs gives your board, and your agent, a number they can defend and shop with.
What to do before your next renewal
Pull your current master policy and check when your replacement cost was last set. If it has been a few years, order an updated appraisal so your coverage reflects current costs. Then give your agent time to market the account, because more carriers are writing now, and a current, independent number helps them bring you competitive quotes.
Prestar is an insurance appraisal firm that has completed replacement cost appraisals for Florida condominium and homeowners associations for about twenty years. If your building’s value has not been looked at recently, this is a good time, while the market is working in your favor.
