Politics

Citizens Insurance recommending rate cuts for many policyholders in 2026

Published

1 hour ago

December 10, 2025

Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which provides property insurance for Floridians who can’t get coverage elsewhere, is recommending lower rates for policyholders next year.

The Citizens Board of Governors approved the recommended rate reductions Wednesday. If the reductions get final approval by state regulators, it will be the first time since 2015 Citizens policyholders would see a decrease in policy payments.

The recommendation suggested statewide average rates to drop by 2.6% in 2026 for personal line policies. At that rate, according to a Citizens news release, the average premium for 3 out of every 5 policyholders would see premiums fall by 11.5%, or $359.

Citizens officials credit major overhauls to Florida’s insurance regulations this decade for prompting the recommended rate decrease.

“Critical reforms championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and approved by the Florida Legislature have done what they were supposed to do: provide rate relief to policyholders and stability to the Florida market,” said Tim Cerio, Citizens President, CEO and Executive Director. “These 2026 rate proposals are further confirmation that Florida’s insurance market is thriving.”

While leaders at Citizens are enthused about the promise of falling insurance premiums, Citizens’ own county-by-county analysis and report shows the declines in premiums would not be universal in Florida. Several counties would still see increases in premiums, despite the proposed reductions for some areas.

Citizens, headquartered in Jacksonville, was created by the Legislature in 2002 as a nonprofit agency to provide insurance for property owners who can’t get coverage in the private market.

The nonprofit drew a flood of customers in recent years and mushroomed to 1.42 million policies at its peak in 2023. That figure fell to 385,000 this year due to many of the regulatory reforms. It was the lowest number of policies in the history of Citizens, and more than 546,000 policies were transferred to private insurance companies this year.

Citizens officials point out that after regulatory changes designed to reduce frivolous litigation were approved beginning this decade, some 17 new insurance companies have since entered the market in Florida and that has led to Citizens no longer being the largest property insurance organization in the state.

“Thanks to the Governor’s leadership and the Legislature’s actions, I can say unequivocally that Citizens has returned to its proper role as Florida’s insurer of last resort,” Cerio said. “It’s important now for us to stay the course and resist any effort to roll back the critical reforms responsible for this success.”

While the Citizens Board has made the recommendation of lower rates for policyholders, the nonprofit has to file the move with the Office of Insurance Regulation, which needs to conduct public hearings and reviews of the rate proposals. If the reductions are approved, they wouldn’t take effect until June 1.

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Politics

Ron DeSantis reveals Daoist take on Midterms as he distances himself from GOP Miami loss

Published

12 minutes ago

December 10, 2025

May Greene

Gov. Ron DeSantis may seem like an unlikely exponent of Chinese philosophy. Yet during a Q&A, the second-term Republican leaned on some of its central concepts in explaining why Democrats gained yet again in off-year elections held this week.

“There’s just a yin and a yang with some of this stuff, but Republicans are going to have to contend with that,” DeSantis said at Good Greek Moving & Storage West Palm Beach.

According to DeSantis, the issue in part is that Democrats are more motivated than Republicans.

“I will just say as someone that studies history, when the party’s out of power, they typically turn out better, and the party in power’s voters tend to get more complacent. That’s why we have these Midterm effects,” DeSantis said.

Asked about the Democratic flip of the Miami mayoral race, in which he endorsed losing candidate Emilio Gonzalez early, DeSantis distanced himself from the outcome.

“I did an endorsement in the original scrum, and then once it advanced to the runoff, it just wasn’t something I was involved in. So I don’t know what the issues were or any of that,” DeSantis said, professing a surprising ignorance of local concerns in the state’s most important city before suggesting that Democrats may be well-positioned in upcoming cycles.

“One side is energized to come out, and that’s going to be something that’s likely to get to continue through the Midterms and potentially even beyond from the Midterms.”

DeSantis has previously warned that GOP voters could be “complacent” amid scant accomplishments from the Republican-controlled federal government, with off-year elections presenting a “big warning sign” nationally and in Florida, where he could see his party losing its House supermajority.

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Politics

Ron DeSantis affirms right to strike Venezuela as conflict heats up

Published

43 minutes ago

December 10, 2025

May Greene

He was asked about drug trafficking as the conflict heads toward a new phase.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is defending U.S. military action against Venezuelan assets, as President Donald Trump’s administration escalates it.

While DeSantis was not asked about the breaking news of an American seizure of an oil tanker, he does support action against what he calls “narco-terrorists” in the form of at least 20 attacks against boats from the country since September.

“I think that the U.S. has a right to treat it and engage it as a military threat, simply because we’ve seen over the last 10, 20 years, the amount of people that have been killed by cartels bringing drugs in to our country,” DeSantis said at Good Greek Moving & Storage West Palm Beach.

The Governor said “the cartels have been able to move this product in with impunity for a long time.”

Regarding other actions beyond attacks on boats with suspected drug traffickers, DeSantis said he hadn’t been briefed, before again affirming his support of the attacks on boats with contraband.

“I do think the threshold question of ‘Is it appropriate to say that somebody trying to enter your country with drugs that obviously can be deadly for people, do you have a right as Commander-in-Chief to repel that incursion in your country?’ And the answer to that is yes.”

DeSantis has consistently called for the U.S. to take a firm hand against Venezuela, and he’s giving no indication of softening his stance.

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Politics

North Florida home sales, prices fall in November

Published

2 hours ago

December 10, 2025

May Greene

Single-family home sales and prices saw notable declines in November, according to the latest report from the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors (NEFAR).

The six-county First Coast region saw a definite drop in housing sales last month. The NEFAR report showed there was not only a decline in home sales compared to October, but in the year-over-year comparison as well.

There were 1,374 closed single-family houses sold across the First Coast region in November. That’s down by 6.9% from the 1,476 homes sold in November 2024. It’s also a steep 20.4% drop from the 1,726 homes sold in Northeast Florida in October 2025.

The housing market on the First Coat seems to be leaning toward buyers in another facet: the price of homes. The median sales price in the region for November came in at $375,000. That’s a 4.1% decline from November 2024, when the median price tag for a home was $390,992. The figure fell from October’s price as well, dropping 2.1% from $380,020.

Active inventory of homes for sale in North Florida, which had been climbing for much of the past year, showed a decline. There were 7,286 homes for sale in the six-county market. That’s down by 3.9% from November 2024’s figure of 7,585 and is a 4.4% drop from October’s number of 7,623.

In the individual county breakout, Duval County, the most populous in the North Florida region, showed similar trends to the regional figures.

There were 709 homes sold in the county, which is home to Jacksonville. That’s a 2.1% drop in the year-over-year comparison, when there were 724 homes sold. It’s also a whopping 22.9% decline from October’s figure of 919 homes sold. Duval’s median sales price did pick up, though, coming in at $330,000. That’s a 1.2% jump from a year ago and a 1.5% uptick from October.

St. Johns County, one of Florida’s fastest-growing counties and the largest suburb to Jacksonville, saw sales and prices tumble last month. There were 354 closed sales of homes in November. That’s a 10.6% drop from November 2024’s 396 home sales and a 13.7% drop from October’s figure of 410 homes sold. The median sales price in St. Johns came in at $508,993. That marks a 3% decline from a year ago and a 9.5% drop from October.

Nassau County, the last county before the Georgia state line, took a hit in home sales last month. There were 72 closed sales of single-family houses in November. It’s a 10% drop from a year ago, when there were 80, and a steep 30.1% decline from October, which saw 103 closed sales. The price of homes was a little more encouraging for sellers, as the median figure was $471,243 in Nassau. That’s a 1.1% increase from a year ago and 3% uptick from October.

Clay County also sustained a drop in both sales and prices in November. There were 188 home sales last month, marking a 19.3% fall from a year ago when there were 233 homes sold. It’s also a 20% drop from October, which saw 235 sales. Median sales prices also lagged last month in Clay, coming in at $350,000. That’s a 5.4% drop in the year-over-year comparison and a 2.5% decline from October.

Putnam and Baker counties are the least populated areas in the region and saw modest changes in the home sales market. Putnam posted 38 closed sales in November, which is a 35.7% increase from a year ago and a 13.6% decline from October. Baker County witnessed 13 closed home sales in November, a 13.3% decline in both the annual and monthly comparisons.

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