After the Hard Market: Smart Moves for Commercial Lines Agents

• July 13, 2026

By Steve Kass

The commercial lines space has been a wild ride for agents over the past five years. Capacity disappeared overnight, “nonadmitted” was suddenly a well-known term to clients and relationships that took years to build were unexpectedly stress-tested. Now, as the market stabilizes, the advantage is shifting again—though not evenly.

Commercial property rates declined throughout 2025 and capacity has been returning in catastrophe risk markets that were essentially shut off two years ago, according to Business Insurance. That’s good news for many clients. But casualty rates, particularly excess liability, are holding strong. Social inflation, rising verdicts and claims severity remain persistent.

A good example of these uneven market shifts is habitational business. Apartment and condominium accounts receive meaningful property premium reductions as competition and capacity return to CAT-exposed markets. At the same time, excess liability programs are often renewed with the same or significantly increased premiums due to ongoing concerns about litigation trends and loss severity.

For many insureds, property savings created an expectation that the entire account would improve, even as liability costs remained under pressure. Those conversations are easier when agents address property and casualty separately at the beginning of the renewal.

E&S Is Not the Last Resort

The hard market taught us how the excess and surplus channel really works. Surplus lines premium volume reached $90.3 billion in 2025, a 7.8% increase from the prior year, according to WSIA’s annual stamping office report. The biggest shift wasn’t whether to use E&S; it was when. If you were waiting until admitted markets decline a risk, you were already behind.

During the hard market, the push into the wholesale channel was out of necessity. E&S carriers offered broader flexibility, specialized underwriting expertise and creative solutions that simply weren’t available in the admitted market. Today, more sophisticated agents engage wholesale partners at the front end, particularly for complex risks, because early collaboration yields better outcomes than waiting for a declination.

As markets stabilize and competition returns, the advantage is shifting back toward expertise, timing and execution. The agents who adapt to that change will be better positioned than those who assume the conditions of the past several years will continue indefinitely.

Gaps in Relationships

The hard market also exposed gaps in relationships. What agents need are partners who deeply understand the industries they write, respond quickly to submissions and advocate for coverage terms alongside price. The right wholesale partner helps you move faster, reduce friction and position the account to drive better terms and stronger programs.

Many agents focus heavily on market access and carrier appointments but overlook expertise within a specific industry segment. Not all wholesalers are built the same. A wholesaler may have access to dozens of markets, but the real value comes from understanding how to position a construction account, transportation risk or a habitational portfolio in a way that resonates with underwriters.

One of the best questions an agent can ask is: How much business do you place in this class every year? The answer tells you more than any list of carrier appointments.

Here are six moves agents can make to help their commercial property clients:

1) Reset expectations early. Separate property and casualty upfront to avoid surprises at renewal.

2) Remarket property proactively. Capacity has returned to CAT-exposed markets, which brings opportunities, but the window won’t last indefinitely.

3) Start casualty conversations earlier. In construction, transportation and habitational, timing directly impacts outcomes.

4) Build wholesale relationships. The agents who struggled most were building partnerships under pressure. Now is the time.

5) Use E&S as the first step. If a risk is complex, bring in a wholesaler early to shape the placement before it becomes a salvage effort.

6) Vet partners carefully. Deep expertise in your clients’ risk categories helps catch coverage gaps and negotiate terms a generalist won’t.

The commercial lines markets may be stabilizing, but that stability is uneven and possibly short-lived. The agents who treat this moment as a reset opportunity, not a pause, will be the ones who are best positioned for whatever comes next.

Steve Kass is an executive partner at XPT Specialty, a wholesale brokerage and binding firm.