The industry just posted its best year in a decade, homeowners swung to a $16.8B profit
Archive story from the 2026-07-27 edition. This is the reporting as filed; source publication and event dates may differ. Check the dated storyline for subsequent developments.
The 2025 P&C combined ratio improved 3.6 points to 93, underwriting income jumped to $61.2B from $23B, and premiums grew 5% to $1.11T. Personal lines drove it: homeowners multiperil recovered from a $1.5B underwriting loss in 2024 to $16.8B in income, and private-passenger auto more than doubled to $28.9B. Commercial liability lagged, with "other liability" posting an $11B loss on social inflation.
Why it matters
This is the context that makes the two stories above land. The homeowners line that's non-renewing your customers and tightening deductibles just had its most profitable year on record. When a carrier tells you money's tight on your supplement, the industry's own scoreboard says otherwise.
Our assessment
A hardening market rewarding discipline is the tidy story. Put it next to the claim volume drop in the same quarter and a different picture shows up: record homeowners profit while fewer claims got paid at all. That is the best number to have on hand when an adjuster pleads poverty on your supplement. Print the combined ratio and the underwriting income, and keep them in the file.
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Trade press on Advisory data (AM Best). High confidence at publication
How we got here
Storyline: carrier exits 5 stories so far
What changed earlier coverage tracked carriers re-entering FL/CO; this is the profitability number that explains why they came back.
- California FAIR Plan reform and the carrier-exit squeeze
- Florida flips from crisis to comeback
- California: policyholders pay more while the watchdog gets leashed
- California FAIR Plan strains under luxury-home exposure
- The industry just posted its best year in a decade, homeowners swung to a $16.8B profit You are here
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Terms in this story: Supplement