AM Best: US P/C Industry in 2024 Posts First Underwriting Profit in Four Years

For the first time in four years, the U.S. property/casualty industry will finish a year with an underwriting profit.

AM Best today in a “First Look” at US P/C financial results said the industry left 2024 with a $22.9 billion net underwriting gain. The industry booked an underwriting loss of $21.3 billion in 2023.

The industry combined ratio for 2024 was 96.6 compared to 101.6 the year prior.

Industry policyholder surplus grew about 7% in 2024 to $1.1 trillion.

Data in the special report are provided by companies that submitted year-end statutory statements as of March 11, AM Best said. The companies account for about 97% of industry net premiums and 96% of policyholder surplus, the rating agency added.

In a larger report on the U.S. P/C segment released just last month, which included an estimate of underwriting income for 2024, AM Best said the industry would take an underwriting loss of $2.6 billion – still an improvement from the loss recorded in 2023 but far from the agency’s early insight now of a nearly $23 billion underwriting profit. AM Best once again pointed to personal lines as the primary reason for the turnaround in underwriting results.

AM Best said last month it expected the industry in 2025 to “build on its solid rebound” with improved underwriting and operating results, even as insurers field more losses from secondary perils and continued adverse litigation trends.

Net catastrophe losses in 2024 were about $76.3 billion compared to about $67.7 billion in 2023. AM Best said it estimates catastrophe losses added 8.7 points to the 2024 combined ratio.