Householders insurance recorded an underwriting profit of $431 million in the June quarter, down from $702 million a year earlier, according to Australian Prudential Regulation Authority data.

The June result follows two quarters of losses – $16 million and $1.09 billion in the March and December quarters respectively.

 

 

Gross written premium increased to $4.53 billion from $4.27 billion, but incurred claims worsened to $2.09 billion from $1.39 billion as the net combined operating ratio deteriorated to 86.5% from 76.6%.

Short-tail property lines comprising householder, commercial and domestic motor, and fire and industrial special risk booked an underwriting profit of $1.24 billion in the June quarter, down from $1.38 billion a year earlier.

KPMG partner Grace Ng says the householder result for the June quarter is “favourable … reflecting the typical kind of more benign catastrophe experience” for the period.

Long-tail property lines recorded an overall underwriting profit of $362 million, down from $473 million a year earlier; GWP increased to $5.29 billion from $4.99 billion; the gross loss ratio increased to 63.7% from 57.8%; and the net loss ratio rose to 63.7% from 60.5%.

The industry made an overall net profit from continuing operations of $2.25 billion, down from $2.36 billion a year earlier.

The underwriting gain declined to $2.39 billion from $2.67 billion; incurred claims worsened to $10.26 billion from $9.75 billion; and the investment result improved to $1.96 billion from $1.84 billion.