Hurricanes that made landfall in the US this season were within modelled expectations and reinsurance capital levels are above anticipated losses, JLT Re says.

Major hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria caused extensive damage after hitting Texas and Florida, ending five years of below-average loss expectations.

JLT estimates reinsurers held at least $US60 billion ($77 billion) of excess capital at the start of this year’s season, further lifted by about $US20 billion ($26 billion) of catastrophe premiums.

This total capital compares with about $US65 billion ($83 billion) of reinsurance losses on hypothetical $US130 billion ($166 billion) insured industry losses, Global Head of Analytics David Flandro told a Morgan Stanley conference call.

The first three hurricanes were followed by Hurricane Nate, which this month made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 1 storm.

JLT Re says four hurricanes making landfall in a season is not outside frequency expectations from a reinsurers’ modelling perspective.

That compares with 2011, when significant unmodelled losses outside the US included New Zealand earthquake liquefaction, large business interruption losses from Thailand flooding and the quake and nuclear reactor flooding in Japan.

JLT Re says many observers expect pricing to increase for loss-exposed US property catastrophe lines of business in upcoming renewals, but this makes up a small part of the total reinsurance market, diluting the pricing impact.