Brown & Brown, Inc.’s 2026 Market Trends report underscores softening commercial rates, more capacity and increased carrier competition, suggesting that careful preparation and positive claims history can favor buyer renewal.
“The dynamism of today’s insurance market and the ever-changing economic factors being managed by customers make this type of insight invaluable for planning,” says Steve Hearn, EVP, COO and president of the retail segment. “I’m excited to see how the combination of Brown & Brown and Risk Strategies’ specialty knowledge has deepened our ability to provide insight into the factors shaping the risk and liability markets.”
Key takeaways:
· Commercial insurance: Heightened carrier competition is creating new opportunities for those with strong risk management practices. Large-scale loss events such as wildfires and cyber incidents remain a persistent challenge. Industries like transportation and hospitality, and operations in risk-prone regions, face less favorable market dynamics in securing effective coverage.
· Employee benefits: A continued shift to control rising costs without compromising benefit quality or relevance is putting an incremental focus on deploying digital health tools, from virtual primary care to cost transparency platforms. Balanced with cost management, fostering a culture that attracts and retains talented, engaged individuals remains essential.
· Personal insurance: Climate volatility, higher loss severity, regulatory change and evolving carrier strategies all mandate stronger preparation, clearer documentation and more deliberate risk management. While capacity is expanding and underwriting is stabilizing in select areas, catastrophe-exposed regions continue to face tighter requirements and sustained pricing pressure, particularly for properties exposed to wildfire and severe convective storm activity.
