As Hurricane Sandy engulfed the Eastern coast and Northeastern United States, it targeted an area that accounts for nearly one-quarter of the homeowner’s insurance market of the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry. The 14 states and the District of Columbia along the East Coast from Virginia to Maine and inland to include West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire and Vermont accounted for $16.7 billion in homeowner’s multiple-peril insurance direct premium written in 2011, or 23% of the U.S. market for this coverage. All data is drawn from BestLink, A.M. Best’s database of insurance information.
Insurance groups that accounted for the most direct written homeowner’s premium within the 15 U.S. domiciles in 2011 include:
1. State Farm Group, $2.5 billion
2. Allstate Insurance Group, $1.8 billion
3. Travelers Group, $1.4 billion
4. Liberty Mutual Insurance Cos., $1.3 billion
5. Chubb Group of Insurance Cos., $917 million
6. Nationwide Group, $812 million
7. USAA Group, $746 million
8. Erie Insurance Group, $357 million
9. MetLife Personal Lines Group, $336 million
10. Tower Group Cos., $301 million
Insured losses vary among states, depending on weather and other developments. In aggregate, homeowner’s insurers in Ohio recorded an adjusted loss ratio of 98.75 for 2011. In New Jersey, the aggregate ALR was 90.77 for 2011. By comparison, the entire U.S. homeowner’s insurance sector recorded an aggregate ALR of 75.82 for 2011.
While insurers writing in the 15 domiciles mostly reported adjusted loss ratios below 100 during 2011, these insurers, combined, posted ALRs above that threshold in 171 reports during the year.