In the wake of the latest market correction toward softer conditions, some surplus lines experts are suggesting that once-hardening insurance markets are not what they used to be—and in fact, may never be the same again.

A year ago, the E&S market was still recovering from many of the lumps it took when Superstorm Sandy struck the East Coast in October 2012. The storm, which killed 280 people, caused $18.75 billion of insured damage—the third-costliest storm-damage loss for insurers in U.S. history, according to Verisk's Property Claims Service. With rates increasing across the board on P&C risks as a result, surplus lines insurers and brokers had described the market a year ago as definitely firming, if not quite hard. Today, the consensus among executives is that the market is softer.

"The Property sector in particular has grown softer than anyone would have anticipated a year ago," observes Robert J. Greenebaum Jr., Chicago-based executive vice president, national director of Marketplace Strategies and the Casualty Practice Group Leader for wholesaler Swett & Crawford.