US Commercial Property Rates Fall 10.5%

Int’l Insurance Desk: US commercial property insurance rates continued their downward slide in the second quarter of 2026, with median declines reaching 10.5 percent according to data from broker Lockton. The figure comes from the firm’s October 2026 market update and benchmarking analysis, which shows property leading the broader softening across most commercial lines.

Lockton attributes the drop to abundant capacity, strong insurer earnings and a competitive reinsurance market that has been supported by a relatively quiet 2025 Atlantic hurricane season with no major US landfalls. Buyers have found renewals easier and more favourable than in recent years, with many now approaching the market expecting lower premiums as a baseline rather than a surprise.

Other brokers have reported similar trends. Willis, part of WTW, recorded even steeper reductions for large and complex property programmes, with average rate falls of 14.5 percent in the same quarter and shared and layered placements declining by more than 23 percent. The pattern marks a clear reversal from the multi-year hard market that dominated property pricing from roughly 2018 through early 2024.

Yet Lockton cautions that the current pace of reductions may not continue at the same speed into 2027. Insurers are signalling that further cuts will become harder to secure as some carriers approach what they view as rate adequacy thresholds. A significant US landfall late in the current hurricane season could also shift both retail and reinsurance expectations quickly.

Overall conditions remain broadly favourable for property buyers, driven by excess capital and limited recent catastrophe losses. Lockton advises clients to look beyond simply securing a cheaper renewal and instead use the current environment to reassess programme structures, retentions and limits with longer-term resilience in mind. While property softens, liability lines continue to present a more mixed picture, with some segments still seeing upward pressure from loss-cost inflation.