The US high-net-worth (HNW) property market has undergone what one wholesale leader calls a “complete shift” in the past 12 to 18 months, and it is changing week to week in some ZIP codes.
Amwins executive vice president Yas Nahali (pictured) said today’s environment is defined less by appetite and more by capacity discipline, hyper-local volatility, and a surge of alternative markets giving brokers new leverage.
While there has been “drastic softening across the board” compared to late 2024, Nahali stressed that hard pockets remain, often ZIP code by ZIP code.
“Previously, a lot of it was cat-driven or risk-profile driven,” she told Insurance Business. “Now it’s not necessarily that markets don’t desire to write the business. They just don’t have the capacity.”
In high-value enclaves such as Malibu, Monroe County, and parts of The Hamptons, a handful of $30-million to $40-million homes can quickly consume a carrier’s line size. Even when underwriting appetite exists, balance sheet management and reinsurance constraints may limit deployment.
At the same time, E&S carriers and standard carriers using E&S paper are selectively stepping into risks that would have been off-limits six to 12 months ago, provided mitigation standards are met.
Nahali attributed the return of capacity to strategic recalibration rather than opportunism.
Over the past three to four years, she said, many carriers pulled back, re-underwrote their books, and reassessed geographic and cat aggregates. With relatively manageable recent hurricane seasons and improved underwriting data, some are now redeploying capital in targeted ways.
The influx of new MGAs and recapitalized carriers, including Demotech-rated entrants, is also reshaping negotiations.
For brokers, that competition has tangible benefits. Retailers can now return to long-term standard market partners and benchmark terms: Why is one market offering broader water coverage or a lower wildfire deductible while another holds firm at a 50% deductible?
“I think brokers are able to use these alternative terms and conditions and say, ‘You have to start coming to the table if you want to win this business,’” Nahali said. “(Carriers) are taking this feedback and they're doing something about it sometimes, depending on capacity.”
Still, the leverage only goes so far. In the HNW space, capacity is finite and line sizes are large. Diversification among MGAs often fills gaps left by constrained standard markets rather than fully replacing them.
In this environment, Nahali believes that brokers must start every engagement with a candid conversation about budget, risk tolerance, and non-negotiables.
Early framing is especially important in catastrophe-prone areas such as Key West or wildfire-exposed communities in Colorado and Washington. Brokers should clarify:
“Once you start understanding those things, then the risks start screaming for a market, because there are certain markets that will come to the table depending on what the client is willing to do,” said Nahali.
“Obviously, risk profiles are different, so rates can adjust based on the risk itself. But you can give a ballpark (estimate), and from there you can understand the client's expectations. When those expectations are set, that's where the marketing magic happens.”
Higher deductibles remain common in Cat-exposed placements. Wildfire deductibles of 50% and multimillion-dollar AOP (all other perils) deductibles are not unusual in brush-heavy Protection Class 10 areas. For some clients, deductible buybacks or excess wildfire layers can smooth the trade-off, said Nahali. But for others, particularly ultra-high-net-worth individuals with substantial liquidity, retaining more risk is an intentional financial strategy.
“We do have clients who, if their house burns down, they don’t care because they can build it back out of pocket,” Nahali noted. “They’d rather invest the premium.”
The broker's role, she emphasized, is to test not just risk tolerance but financial capacity. Emerging wealth clients may aspire to self-insure but lack the balance sheet to execute that plan if a total loss occurs.
Perhaps the most significant structural change in the HNW space is the normalization of mitigation requirements.
Water shutoff devices, leak detection systems, ember-resistant vents, brush clearance, impact-resistant roofing, and shutters are increasingly mandatory rather than optional enhancements.
“The entire marketplace has now shifted, and I think it's really a great thing,” said Nahali. “It has become the norm in private client markets, and even in E&S markets on a monoline basis when we're writing a secondary, a short-term rental, or similar, because there has been significant underwriting performance. We can see it; the data is there.”
Clients are also seeing tangible returns. Premium credits during the hard market years often offset installation costs within a few renewal cycles. The economic case has accelerated adoption, particularly for secondary homes left vacant for extended periods.
Nahali describes the current state of the property market as “patchwork”: stable in some neighborhoods, volatile a street over.
Two paths could open up in 2026. Gradual stabilization, where continued MGA growth and disciplined underwriting could relieve aggregate pressure, allowing standard carriers to reclaim “cream of the crop” risks (i.e., primary residences, no losses, strong mitigation) while wholesalers absorb the rest.
The other path could be a reversal, driven by a severe, back-to-back, coast-to-coast catastrophe year that erodes gains. But Nahali is optimistic that stringent mitigation requirements and underwriting discipline will hold in the property market.
“We can pretty nicely absorb a few cat losses for 2026 without moving the needle, like what happened in January with the wildfires,” she said. “I think we'll be able to maintain the same approach (if another large catastrophe event hits), as we have prepared well in certain areas.”
