Florida Insurer Slide Expands to Texas and Rhode Island as Home Insurance Rates Ease

Slide Insurance Holdings Inc., a Tampa-based property insurer, said on Oct. 26 that it is open for new business in Texas and Rhode Island. In Texas the company is offering an HO3 homeowners policy, and in Rhode Island a DP3 dwelling policy for eligible rental and seasonal properties, according to a company press release. The two states follow expanded product offerings in Florida, South Carolina and California, the company said.

The expansion is one of several signs that the U.S. homeowners insurance market, after years of rising premiums and carrier retreats, is loosening in parts of the country. Texas regulators report a run of filed rate decreases, Florida's regulator has approved a series of cuts, and the reinsurance that carriers buy to protect themselves has grown cheaper through 2026. In CoverGuard's view, that does not make insurance a smaller question for buyers, agents and lenders. It makes the answer more dependent on the individual property, because carriers that are growing again are choosing carefully where to grow.

Slide framed the move as part of a strategy of disciplined growth and geographic diversification. "Texas represents one of the largest homeowners insurance markets in the United States," Chairman and Chief Executive Bruce Lucas said in the release. The company said its Rhode Island product is aimed at landlords and seasonal owners in a state where coastal underwriting has tightened. Slide said it works through a network of more than 5,000 independent agents and, citing National Association of Insurance Commissioners data, ranks among the 25 largest U.S. homeowners insurance groups by direct written premium.

Texas regulators have reported a wave of proposed rate decreases. Most homeowners insurers that filed rate changes with the Texas Department of Insurance since July 1 proposed decreases, affecting about 700,000 policyholders, the agency said on Oct. 8. Filed homeowners rate changes over the prior 90 days averaged a 4.3% decrease, according to the department. Among them, ASI Lloyds, a Progressive company, filed a 6% decrease affecting 71,000 policyholders, and Texas Farm Bureau Mutual filed a 5.2% decrease affecting 133,000. Insurance Commissioner Amanda Crawford called the lower filings "an encouraging sign for Texas consumers" and urged residents to shop for coverage.

Florida, where Slide is based, has moved further. Insurance Business reported on Sept. 27 that Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky had approved rate decreases for four insurers covering more than 62,000 policies, including 10.4% cuts for One Alliance North America Insurance Co. and Vyrd Insurance Co. According to Office of Insurance Regulation figures cited in the report, 48 companies have filed for decreases since January 2024, and the 30-day average homeowners rate request was a 4.8% decrease, compared with a 1.1% decrease a year earlier. "I expect to see more aggressive rate cuts in the near future," Yaworsky said, adding that he expected the trend to continue into 2027, according to the publication.

The state's insurer of last resort has shrunk as private carriers return. Citizens Property Insurance Corp. peaked at about 1.4 million policies in September 2023 and had about 270,000, after sending 45,000 non-renewal notices as part of its depopulation program, Insurance Business reported on Sept. 4. Florida law requires Citizens customers to accept a private offer priced within 20% of their Citizens premium, the report said, and 21 carriers have entered the state since legislative reforms in 2022 and 2023.

Cheaper reinsurance is a large part of the shift. Fitch Ratings said loss-free U.S. property catastrophe reinsurance rates fell by up to 25% at the mid-year 2026 renewals, after a 20% drop in January, and that Florida property rates fell by as much as 25%, Reinsurance News reported in August. Fitch pointed to heightened competition and ample capacity, and in Florida to three strong underwriting years, no U.S. hurricane landfalls in 2025, new Florida startup insurers and the movement of policies out of Citizens. It said softening would likely continue into 2027 unless a large hurricane or other major loss intervenes. In a survey of reinsurance buyers published in September, Moody's Ratings found respondents most likely expect property reinsurance rates to fall a further 7.5% to 15% in 2027, Artemis reported. Moody's cautioned that a major catastrophe before the January renewals would likely change those expectations.

The softening extends beyond reinsurance. In its specialty insurance survey released Oct. 27, broker WTW said property posted the largest decline of any class, 17% net of claims and exposure trend, at the July 1 renewals. All 15 major insurance and reinsurance classes in the survey fell on that basis in the first half of 2026, the firm said.

Not every carrier is part of the recovery. Florida regulators announced on Oct. 19 that they had forced American Mobile Insurance Exchange, a Florida-only mobile-home insurer that held more than 7,200 policies in early 2023, to surrender its certificate of authority, Insurance Journal reported. The exchange had been under state supervision since 2024, and about 8,000 policies were transferred to other carriers that year, according to the report.

Lower rate filings also do not mean low premiums. The statewide average Florida homeowners premium, including wind coverage, was $3,815 based on April data from the Office of Insurance Regulation, Insurance Business reported in early September, while the Insurance Information Institute found that average premiums fell in 51 of the state's 67 counties in the first half of 2026. Approved decreases take effect at renewal, and a statewide average can differ sharply from the premium on any single home.

Borrowing costs eased slightly last week. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 7.32% as of Oct. 22, down from 7.40% a week earlier but up from 6.19% a year ago, according to Freddie Mac. Chief Economist Sam Khater said the decline was "offering some relief to prospective homebuyers."

Several dates will test how far the trend runs. The Atlantic hurricane season runs through Nov. 30, Insurance Business noted, and the January 1 reinsurance renewals will be the next test of reinsurance pricing. The National Flood Insurance Program, which has nearly 4.5 million policies, is authorized until Dec. 11, 2026, according to the Congressional Research Service. During a lapse in June 2010, an estimated 1,400-plus home sale closings a day were canceled or delayed, the CRS said. During a lapse, borrowers cannot obtain NFIP coverage to close loans on property in Special Flood Hazard Areas.

In CoverGuard's view, a softer market changes the question buyers and agents should ask before an offer. When carriers are expanding selectively, two homes in the same state can face very different choices of insurer and very different premiums, and a lower statewide average says little about a specific address. Knowing which carriers are modeled as likely to write a property, and roughly what coverage will cost, is as useful when the market is easing as when it is tightening.

This is the workflow CoverGuard is built for. Enter any US address and see flood, fire, wind, earthquake and crime risk for that property, along with modeled carrier availability for the area and an estimated cost to insure, before you bid. When it is time to move, you can request a quote from our brokerage team. Carrier availability and cost figures are modeled rather than confirmed, and a quote request is a request, not a guarantee of coverage, eligibility or price; final pricing comes from licensed carriers.