Reinsurance pricing has not spiked significantly despite one of the worst catastrophe years on record, with losses of about $US136 billion ($169 billion), Willis Re says.

Catastrophe losses last year stopped a further slide in risk-adjusted rates in most markets and classes, but a continued supply of capital has prevented widespread increases on loss-free portfolios.

Willis Re says property catastrophe and risk programs have recorded average adjusted price increases of up to 7.5%, with a few outliers.

Strong reinsurance market capitalisation, losses split over different events and retention of a large tranche of losses in the primary market helped curb gains.

The past year has highlighted the impact of increasing capacity offered through insurance-linked securities (ILS).

Willis Re says the ILS market showed resilience during catastrophe losses in the second half, with capacity growing to an estimated $US75 billion ($93 billion) last year.

“Clearly, the 2018 renewal season will, for many reinsurers, be a disappointment in terms of the rating levels achieved,” Willis Re Global CEO James Kent said.

“However, this must be balanced against the ability of the market to provide buyers with stability of capacity at reasonable prices with an orderly renewal process, which demonstrates the growing advancement of the market.”