Reinsurance prices fall at 1.1 renewals: Howden

The declines came despite higher attachment points and tighter terms.

Reinsurance prices fell across most lines at the 1 January 2026 renewals, with risk-adjusted rates returning to levels last seen around four years ago, according to Howden’s 2026 renewal report, Re-balancing. 

The declines came despite higher attachment points and tighter terms, supported by strong reinsurer balance sheets, ample capacity and intense competition.

Howden said market conditions remained favourable globally and in Asia Pacific, even after another year of elevated catastrophe losses, including the Los Angeles wildfires. 

Strong retained earnings and healthy returns in 2025 encouraged reinsurers to deploy more capital at the 2026 renewals, pushing prices lower across most major lines.

In global property catastrophe reinsurance, average risk-adjusted rates-on-line fell 14.7%, the largest annual drop since 2014. 

In Asia-Pacific, competitive conditions allowed cedents to secure further reductions, with risk-adjusted pricing for loss-free non-proportional programmes generally down between 10% and 20% at 1 January 2026.

Howden said buyers in the region benefited from abundant supply and were able to purchase broader coverage at lower prices, whilst the market remained disciplined, with elevated attachments and tighter terms expected to persist into 2026.