If you’ve felt a little more breathing room at renewal this year, you’re not imagining it. A recent Reinsurance News recap of the 2026 midyear market found that average commercial insurance premium increases were nearly flat, rising just 0.2% through the first half of the year. That’s the calmest commercial insurance market since 2017. Here’s MiniCo’s take on what it means for the agents we work with every day.
What’s Actually Changing
A few things are pulling the market into balance:
- Property is softening. Insurers have more underwriting capacity and are competing harder for well-managed risks, especially outside catastrophe-prone areas.
- Casualty is not. Commercial auto and umbrella/excess liability are still under pressure from social inflation, litigation funding, and outsized jury verdicts.
- Underwriting is getting more selective, not less. Insurers are leaning on data and digital tools to size up accounts before a submission even lands on their desk.
That last point is the one agents should watch most closely.
Softer Pricing Doesn’t Mean Softer Underwriting
Josh Leykam, Vice President of Underwriting at MiniCo, put it plainly when he reviewed the report: “The continued softening in property certainly reflects the increased competition we’ve experienced over the past several months, particularly as reinsurance capacity has stabilized and carriers have become more aggressive on well-performing risks.”
But he was quicker to point to the underwriting shift than the pricing news. Between aerial imagery, third-party property data, and AI-driven risk scoring, carriers are often forming an opinion on an account before anyone opens the actual application. “Being able to clearly demonstrate property maintenance, fire protection, loss control initiatives, and corrective actions following prior losses is becoming just as important as the application itself,” Leykam said.
He also flagged that the casualty story hasn’t changed. Even as property gets easier to place, umbrella and excess liability remain squeezed by the same litigation trends that have been building for years.
A Checklist for Agents Before Your Next Renewal
A softer property market rewards agents who show up prepared, not just optimistic. Before you present a renewal to a client, run through this:
- Pull the fine print, not just the premium. Some carriers are adjusting exclusions or narrowing sublimits as they compete on price. A lower number doesn’t always mean the same coverage.
- Set expectations by line of business. Commercial property accounts may see more movement. Auto and umbrella/excess clients shouldn’t, so don’t let one conversation set expectations for the other.
- Ask what documentation the underwriter actually wants. Loss control records and corrective action history are carrying more weight in the decision than they used to, so get ahead of the request instead of scrambling after a follow-up.
- Flag anything that doesn’t fit a standard profile early. Niche or complex risks benefit from a specialist review before they hit a generalist underwriter’s desk.
Where MiniCo Fits In
Self-storage facilities and other specialty risks don’t always fit neatly into a softening market. That’s where specialized underwriting matters most. MiniCo has spent more than 50 years building programs for hard-to-place and specialty risks, and our teams know how to structure submissions that hold up under this kind of underwriting scrutiny, whether the market is hard, soft, or somewhere in between.
Have a risk that needs a specialist’s eye this renewal season? Contact MiniCo to talk through your submission.
