Citizens Property Insurance reduced rates for 2026, and some Monroe County homeowners who moved to private carriers are now eligible to return, according to a Lower Keys brokerage.
SUMMERLAND KEY, Fla.
After years of steady increases that made insurance the single largest cost shock for Florida Keys homebuyers, wind premiums have started moving in the other direction, and homeowners who were transferred to private carriers may now be able to return to the state-backed insurer.
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation announced an average statewide reduction in homeowners policy costs for 2026, with published reporting indicating Monroe County would see a larger than average decrease. On the ground, the reduction appears more modest.
“The number seems to be more like two and a half percent,” said Sandra Tuttle, founder of Island Welcome Real Estate in Summerland Key, describing her own wind policy renewal. “It is a step in the right direction.”
The more consequential development concerns depopulation. Since 2023, Citizens has moved Monroe County policies to private carriers when a private insurer was willing to write the policy at a price within 20 percent of the Citizens rate. Policyholders had little say in the transfer.
Tuttle received notice last year that her Summerland Key policy would be moved to a private carrier. Before the August renewal, her insurance agent requoted Citizens. Because Citizens rates had come down, the private offer was no longer within the 20 percent threshold, and she was able to remain with Citizens.
“By shopping my rate one more time before renewal, I found out the Citizens rate had come down and I could choose to go back,” Tuttle said.
The episode illustrates a broader point for Keys property owners: each renewal is also an opportunity to reshop. Tuttle noted that private carriers are not rate regulated the way Citizens is, since Citizens must have increases and decreases approved by the state. A private insurer can offer a competitive rate in the first year and set a substantially higher one at renewal.
Homeowners can also reduce premiums through documentation rather than price shopping alone. Wind mitigation credits are driven largely by two categories. The first is the roof, assessed on age, shape, and material. Hip roofs receive the highest credit because of how wind loads approach them, and newer roofs carry stronger nail patterns and a secondary water barrier beneath the metal. The second is openings protection, covering every window and door.
Openings are rated at the weakest point. A home with impact rated glass throughout but one remaining shutter of a lower classification is rated at that lower classification until the opening is upgraded.
Tuttle said homeowners who have made improvements frequently fail to capture the benefit. “Sometimes I go on listing appointments and people give me their wind policy and I say, why is this so high? They have a nice metal roof, and they never got a new form for it,” she said. A new wind mitigation inspection after a roof or window replacement, submitted to the insurance agent, can produce additional credits.
Buyers financing a purchase in the Florida Keys carry three separate policies: homeowners and liability, wind, and flood. Several private carriers have recently entered the Keys flood market alongside the National Flood Insurance Program, and at least one carrier is offering a combined homeowners and wind policy that has produced rate relief for some owners.
Tuttle said property owners should review their renewal cycle rather than allowing policies to renew automatically.
About Island Welcome Real Estate
Sandra Tuttle is the founder of Island Welcome Real Estate, a local boutique real estate brokerage based at 24437 Overseas Highway, Summerland Key, Florida. She has lived in the Florida Keys since 1997 and has worked in Keys real estate for 22 years. Her practice mainly focuses on canal-front and waterfront residential property in the Lower Keys and Middle Keys, but they serve all of the Florida Keys, from Key West to Key Largo.
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