Underwriting Profit Triples for U.S. Property/Casualty Insurers in Early 2025 Despite Mixed Income

The U.S. property/casualty (P/C) insurance industry saw significant improvement in underwriting results during the first half of 2025, reporting a net gain of $11.5 billion—more than triple the $3.8 billion earned in the same period last year, according to a new joint report from Verisk and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA). Analysts attribute the turnaround largely to a relatively quiet second quarter in terms of natural disasters, which helped offset the impact of destructive events like the Palisades and Eaton wildfires in California and severe convective storms in Texas and Georgia.

While underwriting performance improved, overall net income dropped sharply to $49.1 billion from $94.3 billion in the first half of 2024. However, this decline is largely explained by an anomaly—over $50 billion in capital gains recorded by a single insurer last year. When adjusted for that outlier, the 2025 net income figure aligns closely with normalized expectations.

Premium growth, however, slowed considerably. Net written premiums rose only 1.9% to $472.5 billion—well below the 10.6% increase seen in the first half of 2024. Meanwhile, losses and loss adjustment expenses rose 2.1%, offset by a 3.9% gain in earned premiums. The resulting combined ratio improved to 96.4, reflecting tighter underwriting discipline amid a still-volatile catastrophe environment.

Despite ongoing challenges, industry surplus levels remained strong at $1.08 trillion. Experts caution that while some market segments are showing signs of stabilization, insurers must remain vigilant as catastrophe exposure and inflation-related pressures continue to evolve.