Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter’s Global Property Catastrophe Rate on Line (ROL) Index was down 12% at the January 1st 2026 renewals, with per risk placements flat to down 15% depending on region.
The US property catastrophe ROL index decreased 12%, with cedants in North America aggressive on price selection and continuing to diversify their reinsurance panels. Savings achieved on core placements were used to enhance risk transfer programmes through additional coverages.
The Europe property catastrophe ROL index decreased 15%. The region also saw a notable reduction in market breadth, with clients favouring a smaller panel of reinsurers and taking a more selective approach to the price discovery phase.
In Asia Pacific, double-digit rate decreases were seen on loss-free catastrophe excess of loss (XoL) programmes, with reinsurers showing flexibility to meet client pricing expectations in order to secure shares.
At 1/1 2026, Guy Carpenter said retentions remained broadly stable, with moderate increases in demand leading to greater limits being placed.
The broker said, “Some buyers looked to deploy expected savings toward ancillary purchases, leveraging favorable market conditions to protect underwriting income.
“In North America, new supplemental coverages were placed, such as underlying catastrophe coverage, aggregate XoL and subsequent event coverage.
“There is increasing appetite in Europe for appropriately structured aggregate or frequency protections, albeit from extremely low levels of market appetite post-2023. Reinstatement premium protections are also being explored by numerous clients. In the Middle East and Africa, structures remain largely unchanged, with cedents seeking greater underwriting capacity.”
Guy Carpenter added that buyers sought 5–10% additional limit, with approximately half of this demand for traditional capacity and the remainder for aggregate products, catastrophe quota share or alternative solutions.
In addition, reinsurer capacity easily met buyer demand for limit. Excess capacity remains a significant factor, with preliminary estimates for 1/1 over 25%.
The broker also reported an easing of terms and conditions, noting: “Clients achieved more concurrency in contract coverage across most regions. In the US, the majority of non-concurrencies introduced in the hard market of 2023 were eliminated.
“Turning to Europe, there is some evidence of terms softening during this renewal. At the hard market of January 1, 2023, we observed a 55% year-over-year increase in unique subjectvities for property contracts. Starting January 1, 2025, clients have pushed for reversion to full-market concurrency of coverage, bringing the number of unique subjectivities down 25% from its 2024 peak.”
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