Hampton Roads December 2023 – Key Take-Aways
Mike Moore – London & Norfolk – Guest Speaker
• General liability insurance is currently flat or slightly increased in the current market.
• Auto insurance continues to be a disaster for insurance companies.
o More claims are coming in than there is money to pay.
• Workers’ compensation coverage has gone down as workers are getting hurt less.
• Cyber insurance is gaining popularity as there is an increased need for those to protect their data.
• Property insurance rates are increasing collectively, with coastal properties having the biggest impact.
o Insurance carriers pulling out of Florida.
• Coverage impacts on property insurance are substantial.
o Deductibles are increasing or drastically changing.
o Rather than flat-rate deductibles, deductibles are percentages based on the value of the structure.
• Underwriting policies are challenging now.
o More detail on the property is needed.
o Specific dates on past upgrades
• Price per square foot varies, especially in the commercial world.
o Office buildings have a lower rate. No cooking and steady occupancy.
o Warehouses have a higher rate as they pose a higher threat. Steel building, with varied possibilities for the contents.
• We are currently in a hard market for insurance. A hard market is when it is more challenging to get insurance, soft market is when it is easier.
Richard Crouch – Vandeveter Black
• Reminding customers about the Corporate Transparency Act.
• Clients that have a lot of the more complex financing (especially those heavy into office) starting to extend.
AJ Abston – CoStar Group
• Uptick in concessions which is an indicator of increased competition.
• Higher than average new inventory coming on.
• Rent growth is slowing nationally.
• Rent growth in our region is at around 1%.
Keith Slattum – Dollar Bank
• Big drop in Interest rates since the FED met.
• People are currently renting just waiting for housing inventory to become available.
• The interest rate drop over the last month will affect inventory.
• People are still coming into deals with unrealistic interest reserve expectations.
Hannah Taylor – Featherstone
• Investment space has been pretty quiet.
• Not currently trending growth much at all.
• There is absolutely a shortage of housing, and a slowdown of buildings to go along with it.
• There is not a lot of movement in the inventory space which pushes people into the rental space.
• Private equity ownership of single-family homes could outweigh the market.
Adam Saich – Featherstone
• Seeing a lot of markets soften in comparison to the exponential growth of the last few years.
• Lots of hope that rates will continue to go up, just not at double-digit percentages like the past few years.
• Insurance increases have been a concern.
Mike Hall – Belfor Property Restoration
• Seeing a lot of top-down pressure in the claim world.
• Seeing higher deductibles.
• There has been a lot of deferred maintenance on buildings post-COVID.
• Seeing a lot of underinsured people
• We run into a lot of situations where we reach the limits on a policy (primarily residential).
• 80% of claims we receive are water-related volume wise.
Pope Hackney – 7 Hills Advisors
• Seeing a fight to quality in Hampton Roads.
o Companies using incentives to get people back into the office.
• Companies asking themselves “do we really need the office space”.
• Not many people rationalize doing away with the office space completely.
Heather Mull – Placer Realty
• Steady in the appraisal world.
• Cap rates are ticking up in certain sectors.
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