During 2017, the private flood insurance market expanded considerably with 50 new carriers. In total, insurers reported direct private flood insurance premiums written of $630 million—an increase of $217 million over 2016, according to Insurance Journal’s Top Private Flood Insurers 2017 Market Study.

Though the market saw many new entrants, 98 percent of the growth is attributed to five major carrier groups: Assurant, Zurich Re, FM Global, Liberty Mutual and Berkshire Hathaway.

Commercial lines still represent the majority of the private flood insurance business written, with approximately 64 percent of the market, down from 66 percent in 2016.

More findings from the report:

• The top five writers by direct written premium for private flood insurance in the commercial market in 2017 were: FM Global ($263,281,599), Zurich Re ($63,839,162), Berkshire Hathaway ($27,603,275), RSUI ($13,224,505) and Allianz ($11,704,696).
• The top five writers by direct written premium for private flood insurance in the residential market were: Assurant ($89,826,939), AIG ($58,245,862), Swiss Re ($41,571,428), Chubb ($9,977,894) and Liberty Mutual Fire ($8,849,770).
• In 2017, 10 states experienced private flood insurance growth in excess of $5 million in new business written. The top five private flood insurance states based on direct written premiums in 2017 are: Florida ($36.5 million), California ($23.1 million), Texas ($20.7 million), New York ($20.2 million) and New Jersey ($11.8 million).

The full report can be downloaded for free here: Insurance Journal’s Top Private Flood Insurers 2017 Market Study.

*This story appeared previously in our sister publication Insurance Journal.