I highly doubt the reason is the inability to obtain liability insurance. The cost and availability of property insurance, however, could be an issue. Obtaining property insurance for coastal property has been difficult and costly for the last 3-5 years and especially difficult in areas with little to no elevation which makes them highly susceptible to storm surge and/or flooding. The norm has been that premiums have increased 2 to 3 times what they were 5 years ago and when you add in the increased values and cost of construction due to inflation, the cost insure coastal property has made a lot of development difficult to justify.