Brown & Brown, Inc. has published its 2026 Market Trends report, pointing to a gradually improving environment for insurance buyers that can demonstrate strong risk management and loss performance, even as certain sectors and coverages remain under pressure.
The report is the broker’s first since its 2025 acquisition of Risk Strategies and draws on combined input from specialists across both organizations. It surveyed conditions in commercial insurance, employee benefits and personal lines, highlighting how additional capacity is interacting with climate risk, large-loss events and shifting carrier appetites.
“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,” said Steve Hearn, executive vice president, chief operating officer and president of Brown & Brown’s Retail segment. He said the integration of Risk Strategies’ specialty expertise had deepened the firm’s view of risk and liability markets.
Brown & Brown said an influx of capital and capacity has brought more competition to many commercial segments, particularly for accounts that arrive at renewal with clean or improving loss histories and demonstrable risk controls.
In those cases, heightened carrier competition is creating “new opportunities” on price and terms, the report noted. However, the broker cautioned that large-loss events, including wildfires and cyber incidents, continue to shape underwriter behavior, and that conditions vary significantly by industry and geography.
Sectors such as transportation and hospitality, and businesses operating in risk‑prone regions, still face less favorable dynamics. In those areas, Brown & Brown said carriers remain selective, with tighter underwriting, higher deductibles and more restrictive wordings common as insurers seek to manage volatility.
On the employee benefits side, the report said employers remain under pressure to control health and benefits costs without undermining the role of benefits in attracting and retaining staff.
Brown & Brown highlighted growing use of digital health tools, including virtual primary care, telemedicine and cost transparency platforms, as employers look for ways to steer employees toward more efficient care and gain better visibility into utilization and spend.
At the same time, the broker emphasized that benefit design continues to be closely tied to talent strategy, with organizations trying to keep offerings compelling in a competitive labor market.
In personal lines, Brown & Brown pointed to climate volatility, higher loss severity, regulatory change and evolving carrier strategies as key forces reshaping availability and pricing.
The report said those factors are driving a need for stronger preparation and documentation from policyholders, along with more deliberate risk management actions, particularly on property insurance. While the broker noted that capacity is expanding and underwriting is stabilizing in some regions and segments, catastrophe‑exposed areas continue to encounter tighter coverage requirements and sustained pricing pressure.
Properties vulnerable to wildfire and severe convective storm activity face particular scrutiny, with insurers focusing on construction, mitigation measures and defensible space before committing capacity.
Across all segments, Brown & Brown’s report stresses the importance of preparation and differentiation at renewal. Accounts with positive claims experience, robust risk management and well‑documented exposures are better placed, in the firm’s view, to benefit from competitive dynamics where capacity has returned.
For more challenged classes, including parts of transportation, hospitality and cat‑exposed personal property, the broker said early engagement, comprehensive data and targeted mitigation will remain critical to securing adequate limits on workable terms.
