The householders line remains unprofitable, incurring an underwriting loss of $10 million in the March quarter, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority says.

While the loss improved from $1.08 billion in the preceding quarter, householders was the only short-tail property line that reported a deficit for the period, according to the regulator’s data.

 

 

Overall, the general insurance industry made an underwriting profit of $1.24 billion, down from $1.32 billion a year earlier but up sharply from the preceding quarter’s $284 million.

 

 

Profit from continuing operations after income tax nearly halved to $634 million, compared with $1.11 billion in the March quarter of last year, dragged down by a drop in investment return to $530 million from $1.18 billion.

Insurance revenue grew to $20.11 billion from $19.3 billion a year earlier; incurred claims moderated to $11.72 billion from $13.04 billion; and amounts recoverable from reinsurers narrowed to $1.91 billion from $3.76 billion.

In the householders line, gross written premium grew to $4.25 billion from $4 billion; incurred claims dropped to $2.59 billion from $4.5 billion; and amounts recoverable from reinsurers fell sharply to $592 million from $2.16 billion.

Across other short-tail property lines, domestic motor made an underwriting profit of $472 million in the March querter; commercial motor $117 million; and fire and industrial special risk $79 million.

The short-tail segment delivered an underwriting profit of $657 million, up from $273 million a year earlier, and long-tail lines made $435 million, down from $478 million.

Every long-tail line was profitable, led by public and product liability ($160 million) and employers’ liability ($109 million).