Commercial property insurance buyers secured double-digit rate decreases at year-end renewals, driven by abundant capacity, restrained catastrophe losses, and a market turning openly competitive.
After a rough start to 2025 with California wildfires, hurricane season ended quietly. Insurers, suddenly comfortable with results, leaned hard into expanding property portfolios.
Brokers expect further softening this year, provided underwriting profitability holds. Reinsurance set the tone. Jan. 1 treaty renewals delivered rate reductions of up to 20% on catastrophe programs, freeing carriers to sharpen pricing downstream.
Across Aon’s national property book, average rate reductions reached 12.5% through the fourth quarter, said Vincent Flood, U.S. property practice leader based in New York.
Shared-and-layered programs posted average cuts near 16%, while single-insurer placements saw mid- to high-single-digit declines. Accounts tapping alternative risk or capital markets often unlocked another 10% on top.
Property remains a growth target. Flood said five or six new Bermuda markets recently added roughly $25 mn each in catastrophe capacity, intensifying competition. He expects the market to keep easing, with reductions in the 10% to 15% range.
Three years without major hurricane losses reshaped behaviour, said Joffre Mishall, Chicago-based head of large property at Zurich North America. More players chased the same risks. Profitability attracted attention, and pressure followed.
Pricing still hinges on account-specific factors. Mishall pointed to physical protection, safety management, catastrophe footprint, and loss history as key variables. Some buyers win decreases. Others don’t. The spread widened.
Catastrophe-exposed accounts sit at the front of the line. Gregory Mann, U.S. property placement leader for Marsh, said some clients landed reductions as high as 40%.
Single-insurer programs, flat early in the year, grew steadily more competitive. Accounts that moved carriers sometimes cut rates by 25% or 30% year over year.
Mann said insurers are rewarding long-term investment in property resilience. Buyers strengthened assets. The market noticed.
Capacity continues to overwhelm demand, said Jeff Buyze, national property practice leader at USI Insurance Services. Terms improved alongside pricing.
Shared-and-layered programs increasingly displaced traditional single-carrier placements. Longstanding incumbents lost ground to domestic, London, and Bermuda capacity.
Buyze pointed to a USI client with nationwide distribution facilities and catastrophe exposure, carrying roughly $1 bn in total insured values. The account achieved a 47% rate reduction at renewal.
For some buyers, relief looks modest rather than dramatic. Advanced ceramics manufacturer CoorsTek expects a flat to low-single-digit decrease at its March 1 renewal, said Ondrea Matthews, senior director of risk management and benefits at the Golden, Colorado-based company.
CoorsTek plans to reinvest savings into capital projects and maintenance aimed at reducing loss ratios over time.
The company holds insured values in the low billions and maintains a long relationship with its property insurer, which provides resiliency credits and competitive pricing.
That insurer will introduce a 2% hail deductible at renewal. A Benton, Arkansas location joined the very severe hail zone, alongside CoorsTek’s Golden facilities.
Rate relief that once belonged mostly to shared-and-layered structures now reaches single-insurer accounts as well, including small and mid-sized businesses, said Martha Bane, property practice leader at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.. The shift, she said, reflects how far the market has swung.
