property catastrophe

As per David Flandro, Managing Director, Head of Industry Analysis and Strategic Advisory at reinsurance broker Howden Re, “if it wasn’t obvious already, we are now firmly in the hard market softening phase of the rating cycle.”

According to equity analysts from Berenberg, alternative capital and insurance-linked securities instruments have become an increasingly important component of property catastrophe reinsurance limit, notably in the United States as cedants see value in diversified sourced capital.

Speaking during an analyst call for Hannover Re’s Q2 2025 financial results this week, Sven Althoff, Member of the Executive Board for Property & Casualty (P&C), explained that despite natural catastrophe pricing being under pressure, terms and conditions and importantly attachment points remain stable.

Cincinnati Financial Corporation purchased an additional layer on its property catastrophe reinsurance treaty with a limit of $300 million at its July 1, 2025 renewal, increasing the total limit on its reinsurance tower from $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion.

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter has updated its property catastrophe reinsurance rate on line indices today and the latest data shows that after the April and mid-year renewals, property cat reinsurance rates have fallen 8.1% globally, 6.7% in the United States and a more significant 15.9% in the Asia Pacific region.

Reinsurers’ probable maximum loss (PML) exposures as a percentage of equity capital have remained relatively flat year-over-year at January 1, 2025, even as property catastrophe reinsurance pricing begins to decline, according to a new report from Moody’s Ratings.

Despite signs of softening at key renewal periods, returns on capital in the property catastrophe reinsurance sector remain “very attractive,” according to analysts at Peel Hunt, who noted that the market continues to deliver internal rates of return (IRRs) well above the cost of capital.

Analysts from KBW have said that reinsurance executives they met with recently are mostly expecting the June 1 renewals to see property catastrophe rates down around 10% on a risk-adjusted basis, but with significant variation by layer and top-layers where catastrophe bonds and industry-loss warranties (ILWs) sit to see larger declines.

Munich Re still sees reinsurance pricing as attractive and its CFO Christoph Jurecka said today that the company is “absolutely prepared” to keep growing into US property catastrophe risks, as long as the business meets its requirements on terms, conditions and price.

Everest Group CEO Jim Williamson expects the upcoming mid-year reinsurance renewals to present meaningful opportunities for growth, driven by strong demand for property catastrophe coverage and healthy expected returns, with terms expected to hold but some moderation in pricing from recent highs.