S&P Global: US P&C insurers top $1 trillion in direct annual premiums for first time

By Isha Marathe

March 27 - (The Insurer) - U.S.-domiciled property and casualty direct premiums written increased by 8% in 2024 from the prior year, coming in at $1.05 trillion, the highest in the history of the industry, an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis of annual regulatory statements showed.

Personal business lines, including homeowners, farmowners and private auto, hit $534.92 billion in 2024, compared to $477.04 billion in 2023.

Of those, private auto showed the largest year-over-year increase at 12.6%, with direct premiums written of $358.77 billion in 2024. Homeowners direct premiums written climbed 11.1% to $169.55 billion in 2024, while farmowners premiums came to $6.60 billion.

The industry's overall direct incurred loss ratio improved to 61.9% in 2024 from 65.4% in 2023.

"The favorable results in 2024 were driven by substantial improvement within personal business lines, which posted a 9.3 percentage point decrease from 2023. The total direct incurred loss ratio for personal business lines was 64.6% in 2024," S&P Global Market Intelligence said.

The combination of three commercial property lines, allied lines, fire and commercial multiperil (nonliability), accounted for $103.97 billion in direct premiums.

Commercial auto and workers' compensation direct premiums written in 2024 were $70.94 billion and $55.42 billion, respectively.

While the P&C industry's overall underwriting performance improved in 2024, it did show a weakening in the direct incurred loss ratios in several commercial lines.

Of those, the "other" liability reported business line recorded the largest year-over-year weakening, with the direct incurred loss ratio coming at 70.8% in 2024, compared to 63% in 2023.

The workers' compensation line also experienced a worsening loss ratio, deteriorating by 1.8 percentage points to 46.8%, the report showed. It also posted a year-over-year decline of 5.3% in 2024, while commercial auto increased by 10.2%.

Additionally, S&P Global found that the overall loss ratio for commercial auto improved by 1 percentage point in 2024, with a reported direct incurred loss ratio of 72.9%.