Hurricane Irma to hit smaller, regional insurers

The Florida homeowners’ market which may be hit by Hurricane Irma on Sunday Sept. 10 is dominated by smaller, more regional insurers, according to research firm CreditSights.

Universal Insurance, Tower Hill Group, and State Farm wrote the most homeowners’ insurance in Florida in 2016, according to a Sept. 7 report.

Hurricane Irma is the region’s strongest storm since Hurricane Wilma in 2005 with current maximum sustained wind speeds of around 175 mph. Some models predict that Irma may result in a direct hit on Miami. Most models project that Hurricane Irma will make landfall in Southeastern Florida late in the evening on Saturday or early in the morning on Sunday.

Progressive, AIG, Chubb, Allstate and Liberty Mutual are among the top 20 homeowners insurers in Florida included in the CreditSights coverage.

Based on a survey, there are 12 Florida insurers that generated more than 70 percent of their nationwide premiums from the Florida homeowners’ insurance market in 2016. These insurers include Florida Peninsula Holdings, People’s Trust Insurance Company, and HCI Group.