According to an annual survey of reinsurance buyers by Moody's Ratings, about 75% of the respondents expect further declines in property reinsurance rates in 2026. The survey found that less than 5% predict prices to remain stable and around 20% expect the prices to increase.
The survey findings note that the greater availability of alternative or third-party reinsurance capital is a major contributor to the expectation of lower pricing. Around one fifth of the respondents also feel that prices for property reinsurance coverage have been too high and as a result will decline.
This expectation of declining property reinsurance pricing is in sharp contrast to the results of similar surveys in the previous years when the respondents expected stable or rising reinsurance prices in the property sector. The survey revealed that the respondents, however, expect the casualty market pricing to remain stable or prices to rise over the next 12 months.
The respondents felt that rising claims costs continue to weigh on casualty reinsurance. The rising loss cost trends and more constrained availability of reinsurance capacity were noted as the two major drivers behind expected stable or rising prices in casualty reinsurance in 2026.
The survey also found that Catastrophe bonds and collateralised reinsurance remain most attractive forms of alternative capital. Interest in catastrophe bonds remains strong among the survey participants, with a significant majority (78%) saying they are somewhat likely or very likely to consider issuing a catastrophe bond.
According to Moody’s a large proportion of buyers (72%) indicated they expect to buy the same amount of cyber reinsurance coverage in 2026 as in 2025. As respondents become more comfortable managing attritional losses, a growing number (37%) said they are very likely to buy more excess of loss coverage.