Property rates are falling. Here's how to get your share before January 1.
The most expensive sentence in Alabama commercial real estate right now is "the market's still tough." For three years it was true. For property insurance, it isn't anymore.
The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers reported commercial property premiums down 6.3% on average in the second quarter of 2026, the steepest cut of any line. Three in four brokers surveyed said carriers had more property capacity to put out, along with lower deductibles, particularly for wind and hail. If your January 1 renewal comes back flat, it probably hasn't been shown to the market.
Not everything is falling. Umbrella premiums rose 5.3% in the same survey and commercial auto 4.5%, pushed by larger jury verdicts. Replacement costs keep climbing too: the federal producer price index for construction inputs was up 7.3% in the second quarter from a year earlier. If your building values go up to match, a real rate cut can still show up as a bigger bill. So judge the property renewal by rate per $100 of insured value, the way you'd judge a sale by cap rate instead of price. A $40 million portfolio paying $260,000 is at 65 cents. Ask for that number on this year's quote and last year's.
You'd never sell a building with one buyer and no offering memorandum. Most owners renew their insurance exactly that way. Here's how I'd run the next 90 days instead.
Days 90 to 75 (by October 18): build the data room. Pick one broker to take you to market, the way you'd pick one listing agent. Carriers generally work with the first broker who submits an account, so two agents chasing the same markets block each other and you see fewer quotes, not more. Then pull together the file in the checklist below. Your loss runs (your claims history) are the T-12, and your statement of values (the schedule of buildings and what each would cost to rebuild) is the rent roll; if either is stale, underwriters price in the uncertainty. Read the loan documents first, because they set the maximum wind deductible and valuation basis you can accept.
Pull these together by day 75 (October 18 for a January 1 renewal).
Days 75 to 45 (by November 17): write the OM. Underwriters price what they can see, so give them good "film." A one-page narrative on management, capital spending, roof replacements, wind-rated upgrades and security, which matters for negligent-security claims at apartments and hotels, moves a quote more than the application does.
Days 45 to 15 (by December 17): compare the offers. Line up the wind and hail deductible (a percentage or a flat dollar amount, per building or per occurrence), the ordinance and law limit (what pays to bring an older building up to current code), and any coinsurance clause (which shrinks your claim check if your values are too low). A cheaper quote with a wind deductible of 5% of the building's value and an 80% coinsurance clause can cost more after one Alabama hailstorm than it saved. While capacity is plentiful, ask about two-year terms or rate locks.
My free Wind Deductible Calculator shows what a percentage deductible means in dollars for your buildings.
Final 15 days: close. Lenders want evidence of insurance before the old policy expires, and the holidays slow everyone down. On a January 1 renewal, bind coverage by mid-December, well before anyone is watching bowl games.
Run the process even if you expect to stay. The incumbent insurer is the buyer who already has a seat at the table. When it knows other carriers are quoting, it tends to sharpen its number. Staying put at a better price is a good result. This summer a Birmingham retail owner asked me to quote his liability renewal. He liked his longtime agent and needed about 20% savings to move. We didn't get there, and he stayed, with a real number next to his renewal instead of a guess.
For the lenders, attorneys and brokers: if a client is closing or refinancing in the first quarter, ask three questions now. Does the wind deductible fit the loan's cap? Is the building insured at replacement cost, with current values high enough to satisfy any coinsurance clause? Who is producing the evidence of insurance, and by what date?
If your renewal letter still says the market's tough, get a second opinion. I track these rates quarterly on my Commercial Insurance Rate Barometer, and I run free program reviews at USI. They work best 90 to 120 days out, which for January 1 renewals means now. Call me at 205-999-4884.
Dan Wentz is a commercial real estate risk consultant with USI Insurance Services in Birmingham and a member of the ACRE 100 Leadership Council.