Specialty insurance market rates fall sharply at 2026 renewals
Updated
Updated · Insurance Business · May 7
Specialty insurance market rates fall sharply at 2026 renewals
11 articles · Updated · Insurance Business · May 7
WTW said Jan. 1 renewals and new business showed a 10-point index drop, taking pricing back to 2020 levels, with aggregate rates down 5% gross and 8% net of claims trend.
Three-quarters of 42 tracked classes recorded decreases, up from 30% in 2024, while about half of the 45% cumulative rate gains achieved between 2017 and the 2023 peak have been erased.
Property and energy led declines as reinsurance capacity returned, but general liability and medical malpractice stayed firmer amid social inflation and litigation risks, raising doubts over how long underwriters can absorb loss-cost inflation.
With cheap capital flooding the market, are insurers simply repeating past mistakes by underpricing future liability risks?
As 'nuclear verdicts' surge while other rates fall, is the insurance industry facing an unsustainable, divided market?