Insurers who renewed reinsurance contracts for disaster-prone properties on January 1 paid slightly less than those who renewed similar ?cat? contracts in July 2006, said David Cash, chief underwriting officer at Bermuda reinsurer Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd.

?It is fair to say that we probably passed peak pricing in the cat market,? Cash said yesterday on a conference call for investors hosted by Credit Suisse Group in New York. ?But we are not much off that kind of peak pricing.?

Insurance and reinsurance prices on catastrophe coverage surged after Katrina and other Gulf Coast storms contributed to an estimated $57.3 billion in hurricane claims in 2005. Compared with January 1, 2006, this year?s rates are still up 15 percent to 50 percent, according to Grahame Chilton, chief executive officer of Benfield Group Ltd., a London-based reinsurance broker.

?Most commentators are saying they were the same levels as mid-year renewals, but that?s not what we are seeing,? Chilton said on the call.