State of the Market Update: Property, Casualty & Motor Insurance

A more aggressive market as we leave Q2

So much has changed since the closing weeks of 2024 that it’s become necessary to write a further update for the property, casualty and motor markets now we are nearing the middle of the year.

Previous signs

The final quarter of 2024 had shown signs of the market softening, with capacity becoming more readily available for property placements and increasing competition amongst insurers for casualty and motor. While claims inflation is still having an impact on motor insurance, a competitive environment has seen rate increases generally kept to a minimum. PIB’s partner Insurers were reporting an average of circa 5% rate growth on motor, and similarly, we had started to see small, single digit rate reductions on property and casualty.

New trends emerging in the first quarter of 2025

The reality is that the market has become much more aggressive. In property and casualty, we’ve seen previously scheduled programs being accommodated by a single insurer rather than requiring capacity from potentially four or five, whilst also witnessing rate stability.

In motor, the market continued to see increased competition, with composite insurers even starting to pursue haulage risks, where previously they’d been tentative. Given the dynamic and fast-moving market that we’ve experienced in Q1, it will be interesting to look at how Q2 extends into Q3, which will provide a good measure of whether these trends persist, or we start to see signs of stabilisation.