Citizens Property Insurance now has 1.22 million Florida policies

The state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. added more than 5,000 policies last week and topped an overall total of 1.22 million policies.

Citizens had 1,220,271 policies as of Friday, up from 1,215,064 policies a week earlier and 1,211,914 policies two weeks earlier, according to information posted Monday on its website.

Citizens, which was created as an insurer of last resort, has become the state’s largest carrier in recent years as private companies dropped policies and raised rates because of financial problems.

Citizens reached as many as 1.412 million policies in fall 2023 before seeing reductions because of what is known as a “depopulation” program designed to shift policies into the private market.

With hurricane season starting June 1, Citizens officials have said they do not expect private carriers to take out policies over the next few months.

But Citizens President and CEO Tim Cerio said recently that estimates show Citizens could have fewer than 1 million policies by the end of the year.