Weekly Moves: IL is live
Plus: TWIA locks $2.28B reinsurance at multi-year lows, CNA flags double-digit property rate drops, and Illinois leads US tornadoes with 99 through April
In case you missed it, we launched the P&C Commercial Tracker, a weekly carrier-level tracker of the US commercial insurance market. Two layers, sourced and timestamped: the Carrier Directory baseline and the Weekly Moves tracker.
Illinois is now live. We mapped the state the same way we mapped Florida, California, Texas, and New York/New Jersey: admitted carriers, the IDOI filing portal, the Surplus Line Association of Illinois eligible insurer panel, Lloyd's syndicates, MGAs and programs, the Illinois FAIR Plan, and the regulatory actors who move the market. Five states, five complete carrier universes, one tracker.
What It Is
A carrier-level tracker of the commercial property and E&S property markets in Florida, California, Texas, New York/New Jersey, and Illinois. 1,208 carriers identified so far (170 FL + 198 CA + 288 TX + 282 NY/NJ + 270 IL), covering admitted, E&S, Lloyd's, MGA/Program, parametric, Citizens, the California FAIR Plan, TWIA, NYPIUA, the NJ FAIR Plan, and the Illinois FAIR Plan. Every carrier researched against FL OIR, CA CDI, TDI, NYDFS, NJ DOBI, ELANY, IDOI, and SLAI filings, SLTX eligible insurer lists, AM Best, Demotech, S&P, FHCF and CA FAIR Plan participant lists, the Surplus Line Association of California, SEC filings, and trade press. Every entry cites 2–5 independent sources. The directory grows weekly as new entrants are identified and gaps are corrected.
There are Two Layers:
The Carrier Directory is the baseline: who writes commercial property in your state, what they target, whether they are expanding, stable, entering, or tightening. Filter by state, market type, account size, or appetite.
The Weekly Moves tracker captures what changed this week: rate filings, appetite shifts, regulatory actions, market entries, and earnings signals. Every move is sourced and timestamped.
What’s most important for us right now is to get your input on how we can make this useful to you. Reply to this email or ping me at molly.brown@intelligencecouncil.com.
What the Data Says
Illinois commercial property right now:
CNA reported national accounts property rates down double-digits in Q1 2026. Core income fell to $225M from $281M a year ago.
Zurich North America posted 10% like-for-like commercial insurance growth, but noted property and E&S remain softer.
Illinois led the nation in tornadoes through April with 99 confirmed, including record 6-inch hailstones in Kankakee. A PDS Tornado Watch hit May 18-19 with active loss surveys ongoing.
SB 1486 passed the House 66-40 and would shift Illinois from use-and-file to prior-approval for property rates. The insurance industry is jointly opposed.
The market is bifurcated: Aon reports average property rates down 18%, but SCS-exposed Midwest risks face tighter terms on roof age and construction type.
New York/New Jersey commercial property right now:
Travelers priced Long Point Re IV at $750M, its largest cat bond ever, at a 3.5% spread below initial guidance.
Nationwide priced Aquila Re I at $350M, also at low-end guidance, growing its cat bond stack to $575M.
The June 1 reinsurance renewal is in its final pre-binding week. Property cat rates expected down 8-15% at mid-year per Fitch.
NY Assembly Bill A11298 would shift commercial property from file-and-use to prior-approval. NYC announced a city-backed insurance program for rent-stabilized housing targeting 100,000 units by 2030.
Florida commercial property right now:
AM Best published a special report confirming Florida reforms are working: defense costs down 68% YoY and 20 new carriers entering since 2022.
The June 1 reinsurance renewal is the most favorable in years. Guy Carpenter’s US Property Cat ROL Index is down 14% YTD, the steepest decline since 2014.
Citizens Everglades Re II closed at $600M, upsized from $450M, with all tranches priced at low-end guidance.
SB 1028 establishes a commercial clearinghouse forcing risks through admitted and E&S markets before Citizens eligibility. HB 1399 requires insurers to disclose affiliate payments to OIR.
California commercial property right now:
Three wildfire reform bills passed Senate Appropriations this week: SB 877 (claims transparency), SB 878 (late payment penalties), and SB 1301 (extended renewal notice). All head to the Senate floor by May 29.
The Sandy Fire ignited May 18 in Simi Valley, burning 2,100+ acres in a prior Woolsey Fire scar. The Santa Rosa Island Fire hit 17,554 acres, the largest wildfire of 2026.
Marsh Q1 2026: commercial property pricing declined 7.1% globally, the steepest negative reading on record.
Texas commercial property right now:
TWIA’s $2.28B reinsurance tower is fully committed per Gallagher Re at the May 19 board meeting, the most favorable structure in years.
Alamo Re 2026-1 priced at $750M with all tranches at the lowest end of guidance. The $1.23B traditional layer is also fully committed.
The May 8-10 SCS outbreak brought 4.75-inch hail to Texas with Aon reporting nine-figure insured losses. The 2026 peak season is underway.
Farmers Insurance rate hike approved effective after September 15, impacting nearly 915,000 homeowners.
Florida, California, Texas, Illinois, and NY/NJ commercial property are live now.
We are temporarily sharing full and free access to our tracker so you can check it out.
Want every issue as it ships?
Have feedback or requests? We’d love to hear from you. Please reply to this email, or email me at molly.brown@intelligencecouncil.com and share your thoughts.
Why We Did It
If you place commercial property at a wholesale brokerage, or you sit in product, strategy, or the C-suite at a commercial carrier, you already know the shape of the problem: carriers entering and exiting state markets, rate filings changing appetite overnight, AM Best moving on ratings, reciprocal exchanges spinning up in Florida. Teams stitch it together themselves, across three categories of outside tools: raw filings databases (SERFF, state DOI portals), financial and rating platforms (S&P, AM Best, Demotech), and episodic broker research (Amwins State of the Market, quarterly outlook pieces). Each one answers part of the question. None of them combines the three in a workflow-usable way at the carrier level for commercial property appetite tracking. That’s the gap we’re building against.
If you’re curious, here is our Methodology and Data Dictionary.