A significant number of Florida's homeowners and agents trying to offload their properties are trying to attract buyers with the promise of not having to pay for flood insurance—an appealing prospect as the state faces an ongoing insurance crisis.
As of Thursday morning, there were a total of 206,887 homes listed for sale by agents on Zillow and 8,886 listed by owners and others, including all types of property (townhomes, apartments, single-family and multi-family homes, condos and lands).
Of these, 2,019 properties listed by agents and 39 listed by owners and others mention "flood insurance" in their description, while 730 listed by agents and 21 listed by owners and others specifically mention that "no flood insurance [is] required."
"No flood insurance is required due to this home's elevated position over the bay," reads the listing for a three-bedroom home for sale in Niceville and listed on Zillow for $545,000. "No flood insurance required," mentioned the listing for another four-bedroom home in New Port Richey, on sale for $528,000 after a recent price cut of $12,000.
Another three-bedroom home on sale for $498,000 in Rotonda West, featuring a golf course, a tennis court and a heated swimming pool, specifies in its description that the home does not need flood coverage "as it is in an X flood zone," the listing reads. The property has seen a price cut of $26,000 since it was first put on the market on Zillow.
The letters "X," "B," or "C" are used to describe low- and moderate-risk flood zones outside of the Special Flood Hazard Area as defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Residents of these zones are not required to pay for flood insurance coverage. In an "X" zone, the annual flood risk is between 1 percent and 0.2 percent. This doesn't mean that this area would never flood, but it's very unlikely it would.
The listing for a single-family home in North Port for sale for $549,000 after a price reduction of $35,000 boasts about "no flood insurance required in X flood zone, with no water bill, no deed restrictions, no HOA rules or fees, and no CDD fees."
Read more: How To Sell Your Home
These listings show that Florida sellers are acutely aware of how the skyrocketing cost of home insurance has become one of the main reasons that's discouraging potential homebuyers from purchasing. According to the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I), the average Florida homeowner's insurance premium is $6,000—a 42 percent jump from 2022.
The incredible rise of homeowner's insurance premiums in the Sunshine State has been linked to a combination of factors, including excessive litigation, widespread fraud, the growing risk posed by more frequent and more severe extreme weather events and the exodus of several major private insurers.
According to Investopedia, the average cost of a National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policy in the Sunshine State is roughly $660 per year, though this number may vary drastically depending on the zone a property is located. Franklin, Wakulla, Citrus and Monroe Counties had the most expensive flood insurance policies in the entire state, with average annual premiums above $1,000.
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