Tue Sep 17 05:16:15 UTC 2024: ## U.S. Property/Casualty Insurance Industry Posts Record Profits in First Half of 2024
**New York, NY** – The U.S. property/casualty insurance industry experienced a strong first half of 2024, recording a record $3.8 billion profit from underwriting, according to a new report from AM Best. This turnaround was driven by a significant improvement in the personal lines insurance segment, which saw a decrease in incurred losses and a drop in the industry loss ratio.
The AM Best report, which analyzed data from roughly 99% of the industry’s net premiums written, showed that net written premiums grew by over 10% to $463.2 billion in the first six months of 2024. However, incurred losses rose only 2.5% during the same period, resulting in a 5.6 point drop in the industry loss ratio.
The combined ratio, which measures profitability, dropped to 97.7 in the first half of 2024, down from 104.4 in the first half of 2023. This improvement was attributed to a decrease in both the loss adjustment expense (LAE) ratio and the expense ratio.
Furthermore, catastrophe losses accounted for 7.4 points on the combined ratio in the first half of 2024, down from 9.7 points in the same period last year. This decline was likely influenced by the impact of record losses due to severe convective storm losses in 2023.
Favorable reserve development, which reflects estimates of prior losses being lower than initially predicted, also played a significant role in the industry’s profitability. The AM Best report estimated that $8.0 billion in favorable reserve development during the first six months of 2024 shaved 1.7 points off the industry combined ratio.
These positive results ultimately led to record pre-tax operating income of $47.3 billion in the first half of 2024, compared to $10.0 billion in the same period last year. The industry’s net income also soared to $97.6 billion in the first half of 2024, driven by a $50 billion change in net realized capital gains at National Indemnity Company.
Industry surplus, a measure of financial strength, increased to $1.1 trillion at June 30, 2024, compared to roughly $1.05 billion at year-end 2023.
Overall, the first half of 2024 presented a positive picture for the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry, with strong profitability and improved financial health.
First Piper 