Agency M&A has slowed to its weakest pace in years, but that doesn't mean every agency owner's exit price is shrinking. According to OPTIS Partners, North American insurance distribution deal-making fell to 292 transactions in the first half of 2026, a 15% drop from 342 a year earlier and the slowest first-half tally since 2016. MarshBerry's tracking tells a similar story: through May 31, 2026, it counted 241 announced U.S. brokerage transactions, down 5.1% from the same point last year.
Property and casualty agencies still make up the bulk of what's trading. OPTIS reports P&C sellers accounted for 198 of the 292 H1 deals, roughly two-thirds of total volume. And private capital hasn't left the table — MarshBerry found private-capital-backed buyers behind 70.5% of deals through May, while OPTIS put private-equity-backed and hybrid buyers at 76% of H1 acquisitions.
What's changed is which private-capital buyers are shopping, and how aggressively. OPTIS data cited by Insurance Business America shows Hub International's acquisition pace down 47% over the trailing twelve months and Keystone Agency Partners down 29% — a real pullback from two of the sector's most prolific historical consolidators. Fewer large, serial buyers bidding on deals naturally slows the market, even while plenty of smaller private-capital platforms keep acquiring.
The more important signal for agency owners is what's happening to price, not just volume. OPTIS managing partner Tim Cunningham put it directly in a firm release: valuations are "remaining high for larger, well-run firms and softening some for others." MarshBerry's Today's ViewPoint newsletter frames the same split in its own terms, saying firms with strong organic growth, specialty capabilities, and durable margins should keep drawing strong interest and elevated pricing, while weaker or more rate-dependent shops face a tougher road.
That's a meaningful shift from the last several years, when broad rate hardening lifted almost every agency's growth numbers and made scale itself the main valuation lever. Now the agencies commanding top-tier multiples are the ones proving they can retain and grow business on their own merits, not just ride the market.
For owners in Texas and Florida, that distinction lands close to home, because both states still have a lot of sub-scale, carrier-dependent shops in the mix. Texas state licensing and carrier-appointment records show roughly 9,100 independent P&C agencies statewide, with 99.7% still independently owned; Houston alone has about 2,519 agencies with a median of seven carrier appointments and a 7% single-carrier share. Florida's independent agency count runs higher, near 9,945, with 95.3% independent — but its carrier access looks stronger too, with Miami-area agencies carrying a median of 15 carrier appointments and just 6% relying on a single carrier.
Florida's fastest-forming county markets highlight where fragmentation is most acute. Public DFS/CFO license and appointment data show Broward County added 513 new agency licenses over the trailing twelve months at just 1.2 agents per agency, and Dade County added 660 new licenses at 1.3 agents per agency — a level of fragmentation that tends to produce smaller, less diversified books. Statewide, the typical Florida general lines agent now holds appointments with a median of seven distinct carriers, with the bottom quartile at just three.
None of this is a reason for any agency owner to rush a sale — deal activity being soft is, if anything, a reason to take the long view. But it does mean the math buyers use to size up an agency has narrowed onto fewer variables: client retention, how diversified the book is across carriers and lines, and whether growth is coming from the agency's own new business rather than market-wide rate increases. In markets already crowded with single-carrier, sub-scale shops, those fundamentals matter more than they have in years. Owners can see how their own metro's carrier access and ownership mix compares at Pexara's Florida agency intelligence page, including fragmentation detail by county.