After years of storms in the Gulf and associated insurance premium increases, recent years have seen a noticeable shift in the coastal property insurance market-lower premiums and deductibles and more carriers willing to write the business. Let’s look at why that is the case.
One of the biggest reasons behind this trend is simple: fewer storms. In 2024 and 2025, the U.S. experienced calmer hurricane seasons with reduced hurricane landfalls compared to previous years. That break from catastrophe-heavy years significantly reduced insured losses, which has allowed carriers to rebuild capital and stabilize their books. As a result, insurers have begun lowering rates, with Coastal property seeing meaningful premium decreases.
The reasons are not solely about better weather though.
Insurance carriers are actively looking to grow again in the current market. Why is that? After years of pulling back from coastal exposure, many insurers are now increasing their capacity—meaning they’re willing to write larger policies and take on more risk. This renewed appetite is creating more competition for condo association business, which naturally puts downward pressure on pricing. As rates decrease, carriers have to write new business to keep their book of business flat. If they are looking to grow, they have to write even more new business. That can be writing a larger portion of a Condo Association’s tower of insurance [for instance taking the first $5M of a tower they only wrote the first $2.5M of last year].
Writing new business can also mean entering new markets. After not writing coastal exposures in previous years, many carriers have begun to do so. New players entering the market has been very impactful. They have brought a willingness to offer broader terms and/or more aggressive pricing in order to compete with established insurers and capture market share.
These three factors—a recent lack of storms, carriers expanding capacity, and new insurers entering the marketplace—have driven this market shift. What was once a “hard market” defined by limited options and rising premiums is now softening, giving condo associations more leverage, more choices, and better pricing opportunities.
While risks along the coast certainly haven’t disappeared, the current environment is a reminder that insurance markets are cyclical.
How long will this trend last? There is no way to know. It is up to Mother Nature. For condo boards and property managers, this is an ideal time to re-market coverage, explore alternatives [increased building values, lower wind/hail deductibles, etc], and take advantage of improving conditions before the next storm cycle inevitably resets the market again. History shows that will happen.
We tell clients that they should push the premiums and deductibles as low as they can, while they can. I believe our unique way of marketing clients and the relationships we have in the coastal property space allow us to achieve even greater results than even this positive market would suggest are possible.
Do you have a condo or home along the coast that is part of an association? If so, let’s have a discussion about your insurance.
Nick Hart
