The US property catastrophe reinsurance market is signaling a strong recovery, powered by stabilizing rates, growing capacity, and immediate improvements from Florida tort reform, according to Randy Fuller (pictured), head of North America Property Center of Excellence and Florida segment leader at Guy Carpenter.
In an interview with Insurance Business America, Fuller described today’s primary carrier landscape as a “remarkable turning point” following years of volatility, insolvencies, and heightened catastrophe risk.
He said Florida’s legal reforms, enacted in 2022 and 2023 to curb litigation abuse and fraud, have had a transformational impact on the state’s primary property insurance market, and the turnaround has already begun to influence property reinsurance pricing.
“Reinsurance pricing is coming down not just broadly across the market, but specifically in Florida,” Fuller said.
“Under the old legal environment, reinsurers had priced in a much higher view of risk. Now, as those legal improvements are recognized, we’re working hard to ensure Florida receives additional benefit in the form of rate reductions.”
Florida’s legal reforms, which targeted one-way attorney fees, assignment-of-benefit abuses, and inflated claims litigation, have helped stem years of insurer exits and insolvencies. “It was almost shocking how drastic the change was,” Fuller said.
“As soon as the reforms passed, we immediately saw results start to improve. Loss ratios came down, frequency and severity dropped, and companies that were struggling for years began to rebuild.”
Fuller noted that while recent legislative efforts have attempted to erode some elements of the reforms, the current political environment suggests those attempts are unlikely to succeed in the near term.
“The House may be more sympathetic to plaintiff interests, but the Senate and (Florida) Governor DeSantis are not,” he added. “There may be bills proposed, but they face an uphill battle.”
While Gov. Ron DeSantis recently warned that a major hurricane or economic shock could still threaten market stability, Fuller believes reinsurance costs are no longer a destabilizing factor, provided the region avoids major events.
Beyond Florida, the broader property reinsurance market is in a phase of expansion.
“It’s an extremely strong market right now,” Fuller said. “Ever since January 2023, what I would call the bottom of the market, capacity has increased at each subsequent renewal. Results have been very strong, and there is significant interest in writing property risk.”
New capital inflows, especially from insurance-linked securities (ILS) and funds seeking uncorrelated returns, have helped restore capacity and support more competitive reinsurance terms heading into the January 1 renewal season.
Fuller emphasized that in a market where capital is more readily available, insurers must focus on articulating their risk improvements and underwriting discipline to secure the best terms.
“We always push for differentiation,” he said. “Our clients have done a lot of work: remediation, analytics integration, improved underwriting. It’s critical that reinsurers understand this and don’t view them as just part of the broader pool.”
Guy Carpenter is increasingly using proprietary data, hazard scoring tools, and non-cat-model-based approaches to highlight clients’ improved risk profiles, particularly around severe convective storms (SCS), which have driven high loss activity across the Midwest and Southeast.
With property now firmly transitioning out of hard market conditions, Fuller said insurers will have more flexibility in shaping reinsurance programs that meet their strategic goals.
“We’ve clearly turned a corner,” he said. “Clients now have more choice, and more flexibility around coverage types, frequency protections, and aggregates. Those structures, which disappeared during the hard market, are coming back.”
Fuller encouraged carriers to proactively design their ideal structures rather than simply renewing what they had. “The question now is not just how to secure capacity, but how to optimize your risk transfer strategy for long-term resilience,” he added.
For cedents preparing for the crucial January 1 renewals, Fuller believes opportunity is back on the table, but success will depend on preparation, transparency, and a clear story of differentiation. He also predicted a more stable, data-driven, and collaborative renewal period.
“We’re entering a new era of sustainable profitability. The key now is discipline, ensuring that as rates stabilize, patience and long-term thinking prevail,” Fuller said.
