Brown & Brown’s Market Trends allows you to connect quickly to key topics and notable updates in the insurance marketplace. Dive deeper on any topic with our Brown & Brown team to better understand how these trends may impact your business. We welcome the conversation.

Read on for an overview of what is happening in the marketplace for the following lines of coverage:

• Property
• Casualty
• Executive Liability
• Cyber Risk
• Multinational
• Surety
• Aviation

Property

Following a prolonged repositioning of the property market, carriers may finally have a glimpse of profitability. With inflation tapering, carriers can no longer hit their numbers relying upon inflation-adjusted valuations to drive premiums. While carriers are still pushing for inflationary increases, they have come down to pre-pandemic percentages. Property carriers are beginning to seek new business opportunities while defending their preferred accounts.

Natural Disasters

With over a thousand tornados and additional damages from hailstorms reported through May, convective storms remain a significant concern for underwriters. Carriers are using deductibles and managing their aggregate exposure to the continuous expansion of high-hazard convective storm counties. Wildfire exposure remains a concern in western states.

NOAA projects an active 2024 hurricane season of 17-25 named storms, of which 8-13 may become hurricanes. This is the largest number of named storms forecasted historically. If one makes landfall in a populated area, causing significant damage, this could quickly reinstate a hard property market.

Rate Forecast

Loss-free accounts with attractive risk control parameters may finally experience rate stability ranging from rate decreases to low single-digit increases. When new carriers and capacity are introduced, moderate rate reductions are sometimes achievable. Poor-performing accounts could see flat to 20% increases, depending on experience.

Casualty

General Liability

General liability insurance continues to face a challenging market. Premiums have increased steadily, with 25 consecutive quarters of rate increases. Increased claims severity, higher litigation costs and economic inflation drive this trend. Underwriting capacity has decreased, causing carriers to become more selective in their underwriting criteria. In addition to traditional exclusions, incorporating exclusions for PFA liability exposures (forever chemicals) is becoming standard. Insureds are experiencing rate fatigue and frustration with the continual increase in premiums and additional requirements from carriers. The market is expected to remain tight, with carriers focusing on risk management, higher retentions and loss prevention strategies to mitigate rising costs.

Workers’ Compensation

The Workers’ Compensation insurance market, long characterized by stability and profitability, is starting to show signs of change. For the past eight years, the market has experienced a soft cycle with high capacity and competitive rates. However, recent trends suggest a potential shift.

While claims frequency has decreased due to improved workplace safety and automation, claims severity is on the rise, driven by medical inflation and higher indemnity costs. This increase in larger claims may lead to higher reinsurance rates and a gradual shift from the current soft market conditions. California, New Jersey and New York are showing early signs of market hardening due to higher claims costs from litigation and medical inflation.

Property & Casualty Team