Florida Hurricane Insurance: Fact File

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APRIL 2012

Florida accounted for 17 percent of all U.S. insured catastrophe losses from 1980 to 2010: $62.6 billion out of $379.1 billion, based on data from the PCS division of ISO. (Adjusted for inflation by ISO using the GDP implicit price deflator.)
Eight of the 10 costliest hurricanes in U.S. history have impacted Florida. Seven of the storms affecting Florida occurred within just two years: 2004 and 2005. (See table below).
The costliest hurricane, based on insured property losses to Florida, was 1992’s Hurricane Andrew. It caused $24.5 billion in damage to the state in 1992 (in 2011 dollars). 2005’s Hurricane Wilma ranks second, with $9.9 billion in insured losses (in 2011 dollars), followed by 2004’s Hurricane Charley, with $9.0 in insured losses (in 2011 dollars).
Florida leads the nation in the number of flood policies, according to the National Flood Insurance Program, with 2.1 million policies in force as of September 2011. Standard homeowners policies typically do not cover flood damage.
The number of people living in coastal areas in Florida increased by 10 million people, or 261.6 percent, from 1960 to 13.9 million in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The total value of insured coastal property in Florida was $2.5 trillion in 2007, up nearly 27 percent since 2004. Coastal exposure represents 79 percent of all property exposure in the state.
Given the growth in the number and value of insured property, a repeat of the hurricane that devastated Miami in 1926 would result in approximately $101 billion in insured damage today, according to AIR Worldwide Corporation.
Since its establishment in 2002, after the state passed legislation combining two separate high risk insurance pools known as the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association and the Florida Residential Property & Casualty Joint Underwriting Association, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (CPIC) has experienced exponential growth. As a result Florida Citizens has evolved from a market of last resort to the state’s largest property insurer.
Florida Citizens Property Insurance Corporation provides multiperil and wind-only insurance coverage to Florida homeowners, commercial residential and commercial business property owners.
Direct homeowners insurance premiums in Florida written by Florida Citizens reached nearly $1.6 billion in 2011, with a 19.9 percent market share, up from $1.2 billion in 2010. Premiums fell from $1.3 billion in 2006 to $791 million in 2009, as the collapse in home and condominium construction throughout the state due to the credit crisis took a toll on new business. It is also the leading commercial insurer, with a 9.3 percent market share in 2011.

LEADING WRITERS OF HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE IN FLORIDA BY DIRECT PREMIUMS WRITTEN, 2011 (1)

Rank	Group	Direct premiums written ($000)	Market share
1	Citizens Property Insurance Corp.	$1,567,341	19.9%
2	State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance	847,324	10.8
3	Universal Insurance Holdings	656,070	8.3
4	Tower Hill Group	505,141	6.4
5	USAA Insurance Group	361,411	4.6
6	Allstate Corp.	254,926	3.2
7	St. Johns Insurance Co.	248,650	3.2
8	ARX Holding Corp.	234,807	3.0
9	Florida Peninsula Holdings LLC	188,464	2.4
10	United P&C Insurance Co.	172,011	2.2

(1) Before reinsurance transactions.

Source: SNL Financial LC.

LEADING WRITERS OF COMMERCIAL INSURANCE IN FLORIDA BY DIRECT PREMIUMS WRITTEN, 2011 (1)

Rank	Group	Direct premiums written ($000)	Market share
1	Citizens Property Insurance Corp.	$1,517,001	9.3%
2	American International Group	1,019,589	6.2
3	Liberty Mutual	795,136	4.9
4	Assurant Inc.	683,252	4.2
5	Zurich Insurance Group Ltd.	664,146	4.1
6	Travelers Companies Inc.	655,914	4.0
7	CNA Financial Corp.	485,436	3.0
8	ACE Ltd.	465,562	2.8
9	Bank of America Corp.	437,130	2.7
10	QBE Insurance Group Ltd.	417,298	2.6

(1) Before reinsurance transactions.

Source: SNL Financial LC.

TOP TEN MOST COSTLY HURRICANES IN THE UNITED STATES (1)

($ millions)

				Estimated insured loss (2)
Rank	Date	Location	Hurricane	Dollars when occurred	In 2011 dollars (3)
1	Aug. 25-30, 2005	AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, TN	Katrina	$41,100	$46,591
2	Aug. 24-26, 1992	FL, LA	Andrew	15,500	22,939
3	Sep. 12-14, 2008	AR, IL, IN, KY, LA, MO, OH, PA, TX	Ike	12,500	13,050
4	Oct. 24, 2005	FL	Wilma	10,300	11,676
5	Aug. 13-14, 2004	FL, NC, SC	Charley	7,475	8,755
6	Sep. 15-21, 2004	AL, DE, FL, GA, LA, MD, MS, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV	Ivan	7,110	8,328
7	Sep. 17-22, 1989	GA, NC, PR, SC, VA, U.S. Virgin Islands	Hugo	4,195	6,835
8	Sep. 20-26, 2005	AL, AR, FL, LA, MS, TN, TX	Rita	5,627	6,379
9	Sep. 3-9, 2004	FL, GA, NY, NC, SC	Frances	4,595	5,382
10	Aug. 26-28, 2011	CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VA, VT	Irene	4,300	4,300

(1) Includes hurricanes occurring through 2011.
(2) Property coverage only. Does not include flood damage covered by the federally administered National Flood Insurance Program.
(3) Adjusted for inflation through 2011 by ISO using the GDP implicit price deflator.

Source: The Property Claim Services (PCS) unit of ISO, a Verisk Analytics company.

TOP THREE STATES BY INFLATION ADJUSTED CATASTROPHE LOSSES, 1980-2010 (1)

(2010 $ billions)

(1) Adjusted for inflation by ISO using the GDP implicit price deflator. Percentages do not sum to 100 because of rounding.

Source: The Property Claim Services (PCS) unit of ISO, a Verisk Analytics company.

ESTIMATED INSURED LOSSES FOR THE TOP TEN HISTORICAL HURRICANES BASED ON CURRENT EXPOSURES (1)

($ billions)

Rank	Date	Hurricane	Insured loss (current exposure)
1	Sep. 18, 1926	Miami Hurricane	$101
2	Aug. 24, 1992	Hurricane Andrew	57
3	Sep. 17, 1947	1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane	55
4	Sep. 17, 1928	Great Okeechobee Hurricane	51
5	Aug. 29, 2005	Hurricane Katrina	42
6	Sep. 9, 1900	Galveston Storm of 1900	40
7	Sep. 21, 1938	1938 Long Island Express	38
8	Sep. 9, 1965	Hurricane Betsy	36
9	Sep. 10, 1960	Hurricane Donna	31
10	Sep. 5, 1950	Hurricane Easy	21

(1) Modeled loss to property, contents, and business interruption and additional living expenses for residential, mobile home, commercial and auto exposures as of December 31, 2008. Losses include demand surge.

Source: AIR Worldwide Corporation.

Other Resources

Issues Updates. Residual Markets. (See sections on Florida).

Florida Citizens. Financial Statements.