Commercial property/casualty premiums across all account sizes in the fourth quarter 2025 were the softest they have been since 2017, according to The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB) quarterly survey.
Overall, premiums across all account sizes rose by an average of just 0.2%, down from 1.6% in Q3 2025, when CIAB called out “clear soft market conditions.”
In its latest survey report, CIAB said, “Signs of softened market conditions were equally evident across lines of business.”
Nine lines of business—cyber, business interruption, commercial property, construction, directors & officers, employment practices, surety bonds, terrorism, and workers’ compensation—saw premiums decrease this quarter, up from six during Q3 2025. D&O decreased the most of all lines, down 3.8% for the eight consecutive quarter of decreases for the line.
Even commercial auto, which led all lines with an average premium increase of 6.6% and marked 58 straight quarters of increases, fell from an increase of 7.4% in Q3 2025. Survey respondents continued to blame social inflation and nuclear verdicts, and about half of them also reported an increase in claims. Respondents also noticed a decrease in capacity for commercial auto risk, according to the survey.
The 1.9% average premium increase across all lines of business in Q4 2025 was a 30% decrease from 2.7% in Q3 2025, said CIAB, who noted that for the first time Q4 2017, large account premiums decreased at an average of -2.1%. Respondents cited more competition for upper-middle and large accounts.
2017 was the end of the last soft market cycle recorded by CIAB’s survey.
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