German reinsurance market sees more measured pricing shifts

The 1 January 2026 renewals in Germany reflect further softening in the reinsurance market environment, consistent with broader European trends outlined in Howden’s Re-balancing report. While competition has increased across the region, Germany continues to exhibit more measured pricing movements than in many neighbouring markets, underpinned by structural market characteristics and historical loss experience.

From a macroeconomic standpoint, the report highlights Germany’s modest growth in 2025 and improving outlook into 2026, supported by fiscal expansion aimed at defence and infrastructure investment. This policy backdrop has contributed to relative resilience in German equity markets during periods of volatility and is expected to support demand across several insurance lines as public and private investment accelerates.

Lars Nelson, managing director and head of Germany, Howden Re, said:

“Germany’s reinsurance market is softening alongside the rest of Europe, but to a more measured extent. At the 1 January 2026 renewals, German property-catastrophe programmes typically recorded risk-adjusted rate reductions of around 8–11%, compared with 10–20% in markets such as France, Italy, Switzerland and the UK. This relative resilience reflects a combination of historical loss experience, including Flood Bernd in 2021 and structural market characteristics, notably the higher prevalence of direct placements.

While competition increased, reinsurer appetite remained selective and retentions were broadly unchanged, with many cedents choosing to retain savings rather than push for lower attachment points.

From a macro perspective, Germany experienced modest growth in 2025, with momentum expected to strengthen as fiscal expansion focused on defence and infrastructure investment feeds through in 2026 and 2027. This policy direction has supported market confidence, with German equities showing relative resilience during periods of volatility. For insurers and reinsurers, the combination of a stable pricing environment and increased public investment points to emerging opportunities across construction, specialty lines and cyber, where Germany also shows significant latent demand despite broader market softening.”