Risk appetite among high-net-worth individuals has dropped sharply, according to a new high-net-worth outlook from HUB International. Per the report, only 25% of HNW individuals are willing to assume more risk for premium savings—down from 39% in 2023.
HUB found that in response to market volatility and coverage gaps, many are raising deductibles, accepting carve-outs and making more conservative insurance decisions, while also investing in resilience measures such as wildfire-resistant materials, water-detection systems and cyber monitoring.
Seventy-seven percent of respondents to HUB’s private client outlook survey said that they’ve struggled to secure adequate property insurance for their homes. Markets with wildfire, flood, or coastal exposures—such as California, New York, New Jersey and Texas—face limited capacity, the brokerage said in a press release.
“It’s been a very tumultuous handful of years,” said Katherine Frattarola, head of HUB Private Client, which services high- and ultra-high-net-worth homeowners.
In an interview with Insurance Journal, Frattarola shared that “the good news is … we have started to see a stabilization or softening” of the high-value property insurance rate environment in some geographies. “Whether or not this is a long-term correction or short-term, it’s anyone’s guess,” she added.
Frattarola explained that carriers have worked to achieve rate adequacy, and she noted that the impacts of recent weather events on high-net-worth individuals —not counting January’s wildfires in Southern California—have been somewhat muted. Reinsurers have wrapped their arms around risk, she said, and HNW carriers have improved their models and remediated their books.
“That doesn’t mean that rates aren’t expensive,” Frattarola explained. “It doesn’t mean that rates are going to be what they were five years ago. It doesn’t mean that folks are going to smile when they get their renewal. But what it does mean is that we’re not seeing these massive swings, broadly speaking, as we have in the past.”
Some previously challenging regions have even seen rates drop. Among these pockets of improvement is Florida, where HUB reports that recent reforms have attracted new carriers to the state. In some cases, rates have fallen by as much as 30%.
But these locations are the exception, HUB reported in its outlook. The brokerage forecasts that U.S. high-net-worth homeowners rates will remain flat to increase by 5% in 2026.
“With profitability beginning to recover, carriers are shifting their focus toward strategic risk management—aligning pricing with individual property characteristics and demonstrated mitigation efforts,” the report said. “Homeowners who invest in protective measures, such as roof upgrades, water detection systems or wildfire defensible space, are most likely to benefit from more favorable pricing and renewal terms.”
HUB reported that market conditions have also improved through refinement to policy structure and underwriting practices that enable carriers to maintain profitability through means other than rate increases.
Some examples of these adjustments include capping certain coverages, such as loss of use, to a percentage of Coverage A, adjusting deductibles for wind and hail exposures and incentivizing higher All Other Peril (AOP) deductibles to encourage shared risk.
Meanwhile, HUB projected that wind-related rates for high-net-worth policyholders will remain flat or decline by up to 10% next year, while wildfire rates are expected to increase between 5% and 10%.
Frattarola explained that in the past three years, the insurance market for HNW homeowners has been “fairly volatile,” particularly in catastrophe-prone areas. The severity of these weather events and their increased frequency have, in part, shaped this volatility, she said.
“You look at where people live, particularly high-net-worth [individuals], [and] you wind up seeing disproportionate concentration in areas where there’s a lot of risk,” Frattarola said.
Post-COVID supply chain issues drove up replacement costs, she added, and high-dollar jury awards against carriers also contributed to inflationary increases. When states failed to approve significant rate increases quickly enough, carriers exited markets, and the burden was placed on homeowners, Frattarola said.
But, about a year ago, as Frattarola saw each of these macroeconomic forces even out, she began to see an avenue for high-net-worth homeowner rate stabilization. And while some areas will continue to be difficult to write policies in, “overall, with a blended geographic view, we’ve started to see things level out,” Frattarola said.
In a separate interview, Yas Nahali, executive vice president at Amwins, said the national high-net-worth property market can be broken into “micro-regions.” Some parts of Florida, for example, are experiencing softening rates, while other areas, like Los Angeles, remain hard.
She has seen a lot of MGA activity and standard markets reapproaching these previously challenging regions on their surplus lines papers with tighter underwriting or mitigation requirements. Several companies took time to recalibrate, Nahali said, and have come back to certain areas for certain risks rather aggressively.
She said now is the time for brokers to negotiate and secure the best terms and conditions for their high-net-worth clients—and use all the tools needed to put together truly comprehensive coverage.
“I think this is the time to work really hard on the behalf of the client, because the last few years, we really haven’t had the opportunity to negotiate terms and conditions,” she said. “And now we do. And I think it’s really important to start going to bat for the client again and then also using all of your tools to put a robust program together.”
In follow-up correspondence, Nahali added that since brokers have the unique opportunity to review proposals from various insurers, they can skillfully negotiate terms and conditions that favor clients in areas where certain insurers feel more at ease.
“For instance, while some markets might impose strict sublimity on water damage aggregates, others might be more lenient and open to higher limits,” she wrote in an email. “By capitalizing on these variations, we can enhance the coverage in a manner that aligns with the insurer’s comfort level and serves the client’s best interest. This creates a win-win situation for all parties involved.”
The 2026 HUB Outlook High-Net-Worth Survey includes insights from 200 high-net-worth individuals and their advisors, focusing on issues related to risk tolerance, property exposures and insurance decision-making.
Key recommendations from the study to HNW clients include:
- Bolstering resilience by investing in wildfire-resistant landscaping, water sensors, and cybersecurity.
- Updating brokers before and after renovations to ensure accurate valuations and reduce claim issues.
- Considering cyber and reputation-management policies for emerging digital threats.
- Regularly updating brokers on life events, property acquisitions and changing risks to maintain aligned coverage.
In its annual private client outlook, HUB also forecasted personal umbrella rate increases of between 10% and 12%. The brokerage reported that rising loss severity in auto liability remains the key factor driving rate increases in the personal umbrella market.
“Carriers are placing heightened emphasis on geographic exposure, particularly in jurisdictions with elevated litigation activity, often referred to as ‘judicial hellholes,’” HUB wrote in the report. “Clients residing in these regions can expect higher premiums, stricter underwriting scrutiny and reduced carrier appetite, as insurers work to manage volatility tied to large verdicts and escalating settlement costs.”
