State of the Insurance Market Report

2024 Initial Outlook:
Industries

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At a Glance

Aviation

In 2024, the aviation industry will likely see a leveling of rates with favorable relief for insurance buyers. Factors that will continue to affect aviation insurance include pilot experience, loss history, and inflation — all of which determine client outcome. While catastrophic air crashes are now far less frequent than have been reported over the last twenty-five years, the costs of repairs and parts have increased. Also, the overall cost to defend and settle third-party lawsuits has risen.

Cannabis

Cannabis is a complex market for insurance coverages due to the ongoing issue of being federally illegal. The directors and officers (D&O) market continued to soften in 2023, leading to more favorable terms and pricing in the cannabis space for both public and privately held companies. In contrast, cannabis businesses are experiencing steep premium increases and a lack of capacity in the property market due to catastrophe (CAT) losses.

Business auto also continues to be challenging because of nuclear verdicts and higher repair costs.

Education

In the first half of 2023, higher education institutions faced a number of challenges that pushed them to reassess their risk management framework, including natural disasters, supply chain constraints, and evolving regulations. For student health, insurance rate increases have been consistent, tracking around 5% for the past two years.

Entertainment

As the world has emerged from the pandemic, the entertainment industry has surged, with event and live performance venue attendance at pre-COVID-19 levels. Despite this resurgence, the insurance market continues to be challenging from a rate and underwriting perspective. Limited markets and capacity have led to a market dynamic that hasn’t improved as we anticipated a year ago.

Fine Art

The fine art market remains stable. Global art sales have increased 3% over the last year. Market growth is not as rigorous as 2022, but it’s back to pre-COVID pandemic levels. Although auctions led growth in 2022, the dealer sector led in 2023.

Dealers need to prioritize proper valuation for owned and consigned art works to ensure adequate coverage. Additionally, Risk Strategies encourages galleries to review their limits and lists of covered art fairs and locations, especially locations of a temporary nature.

Healthcare

In the first half of 2023, the healthcare industry faced ongoing challenges across coverage lines, with five notable changes from the beginning of the year. In addition, underwriters have been more closely scrutinizing Property and Cyber coverage lines since the beginning of 2023.

Marine

Marine property markets continued to be difficult in 2023. Coastal property exposures create coverage challenges in standard markets and in excess and surplus (E&S) lines. Existing businesses are seeing 15% to 25% property premium increases. Carriers operating in commercial marine are making every effort to reduce their exposures.

This could involve restrictions for businesses in catastrophe (CAT) zones, increasing rates, and limiting terms and conditions.

Nonprofit & Human Services

Rate increases for nonprofits accelerated in the second half of the year, particularly for property insurance. Catastrophe (CAT) events brought over $150 billion in property losses in 2023, which impacted pricing.

Private Equity

Private equity (PE) deals and exit activity dropped by around 30% in 2023. Uncertainty around rising interest rates prompted firms to be cautious, temporarily pausing larger deals in favor of smaller ones. Larger deal activity might pick up once the interest rate environment stabilizes.

Professional Services

Social inflation and increased costs of defense continue to drive small rate increases, but the professional liability (PL) market is softening. Firms with favorable loss histories — along with a willingness to approach alternative markets and provide detailed underwriting submissions — should not experience rate increases and can even hope for a slight rate decrease. In 2024, Risk Strategies expects continued competition to lead to more favorable terms and pricing, particularly for firms with good risk profiles.

Real Estate

Across the real estate landscape (including commercial, habitational, hospitality, retail, and other) concentrated risk in catastrophe (CAT)-prone areas is driving up property insurance pricing. High demand for new buildings and rapid growth within condensed geographic areas increase exposures. This makes it difficult for carriers to cover losses if disaster strikes. Concentration of risk is intensifying the hard market across the entire nation, affecting coverage availability and cost. The surge in demand for senior housing in CAT-prone regions exacerbates the situation.

Insurers are updating construction valuations by 5% to 15% and adjusting total insured values. Premiums are increasing, driven by rate hikes and increased property values. Assess your safety and loss control protocols to secure favorable terms. Prioritize life safety systems such as older building sprinkler retrofitting, and roof replacement. Use non-combustible materials in new construction.

Relocation

In 2023, policies with underperforming loss ratios saw additional rate increases of 10% to 15% (or more). Significant causes of loss, such as mold and mildew remediation, have resulted in further coverage reductions for those with disproportionate levels of this loss type. In addition, 2023 saw a 12% to 15% decrease in relocation volumes vs. unusually high volumes in 2022 that were the result of pent-up demand from the COVID-19 pandemic. Reduced shipment volumes allowed service providers to refocus on service quality in order to recover from both staffing and capacity shortages that had contributed to increased loss frequency and severity from the previous year.

For 2024, we expect modest 3% to 5% growth for the global relocation industry and a return to historical shipment volume patterns supported by experienced and highly qualified crews.

Transportation

Commercial transportation continues to grow, but challenges have arisen due to an increased demand for last-mile deliveries during a labor shortage. The transportation industry remains a hard market. Specific risk factors continue to fuel premium increases, with physical damage hitting +20% to 25% and umbrella liability +25% to 100%, as well as auto liability rising even further to 20% to 25%.

Waste & Recycling

The insurance market for waste & recycling companies has proven to be challenging across most coverage lines due to limited capacity and increased claims frequency and severity. Factors such as the frequency of auto liability and physical damage claims, nuclear verdicts, and high workers' compensation rates have led to limited capacity, double-digit rate increases, and a very difficult market for Excess Liability. Carriers are requiring higher attachment points and often limiting their capacity.

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The contents of this report are for general informational purposes only and Risk Strategies Company makes no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy or completeness of any information contained herein. Any recommendations contained herein are intended to provide insight based on currently available information for consideration and should be vetted against applicable legal and business needs before application to a specific client.