That ticking sound you hear is the industry’s combined ratios starting to feel some upward pressure. From Insurance Journal:
Steady erosion of commercial insurance industry pricing continued during the third quarter of 2007, according to the RIMS Benchmark Survey, a survey of current policy renewal prices as reported by corporate risk managers.
As has been the case in recent quarters, only property insurance showed an increase in the average renewal premium, which was driven substantially by companies in earthquake-exposed regions. Average property premiums rose 2.1 percent in the third quarter of 2007. [...]
“The soft market is driven by rapidly increasing policyholders’ surplus, which equates to insurance capacity,” says David Bradford, editor-in-chief of Advisen. “Underwriting profits and strong investment returns continue to add to surplus, which suggest that this soft market has a long way to go before it reaches bottom.”