A Florida real estate insurer of last resort will turn over hundreds of thousands of policies to the private sector later this month due to overwhelming demand.

Earlier this year, regulators in the Sunshine State approved proposals that would allow private insurers to write policies from the state's Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Established by the Florida Legislature in 2002, Citizens provides insurance to eligible Florida property owners who cannot find coverage in the private market. It is the state's largest insurer.

On August 2, Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky signed an order allowing 10 private insurance carriers to take over 413,808 Citizens policies starting at the end of October. An additional 235,035 people have been approved for deportation beginning in November in the past two weeks, according to a report from Florida Politics.

More from Newsweek Vault: Pros and Cons of a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)

Newsweek contacted Citizens via email outside of normal business hours to verify this number.

The number of citizen policies has skyrocketed in recent years as private insurers turned away customers and raised rates due to losses from payouts and litigation. As of August 2024, Citizens had 1,250,791 policies in force. In August 2019, five years ago, there were 420,366 active policies.

“Citizens is committed to helping its policyholders find coverage in the private market,” the website says. “Pursuant to Florida law, the Citizens' Depopulation Program connects Citizens policyholders with insurance companies interested in revoking Citizens' policy and offering private market coverage for their policy.”

More from Newsweek Vault: How much equity do you need for a mortgage refinance?

Depopulation will occur shortly after Hurricane Helene hits Florida and other eastern states in late September. With the death toll now exceeding 200 people and hundreds more still reported missing, the storm is shaping up to be one of the worst storms in U.S. history.

The latest data released by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation shows that 84,400 claims have been filed by homeowners and businesses since Hurricane Helene, including 42,219 for residential properties. To date, 1,340 of these claims have been settled with a payment, while 2,712 have been settled without payment. More than 38,000 insurance claims are still open.

More from Newsweek Vault: Current HELOC prices

Florida residents struggle with some of the highest home insurance rates in the country. According to Bankrate, the average cost of insurance for a home worth $300,000 as of October 2024 is $5,527 per year – much higher than the rate for a home of the same value in neighboring Georgia ($2,071) and Alabama ( 2,745 US dollars).

The average home insurance premium in Florida is $3,242 more expensive than the national average of $2,285. In some areas the cost can rise to over $8,000. The national average is second only to Nebraska, where the average premium for a $300,000 home is $5,652.