The US p/c sector saw net income for the first nine months of 2011 fall 70.5% to $7.98bn, as a spike in catastrophe-related losses boosted claims costs 14.6% to $264bn, according to figures compiled by the ISO and the Property Casualty Insurance Association of America (PCI). The ISO said that total cat losses for the nine months swelled to around $33.2bn from $10.8bn, boosting the sector's underwriting loss nearly six times higher to $34.9bn and raising the combined ratio by 9.7 points to 109.9%. Earned premiums for the period grew 2.6% to $323.8bn, while net investment gains, including capital gains, rose 5.4% to $41.98bn. The latest combined ratio was the worst nine-month result since 2001, said ISO assistant Michael Murray, who added that the combined ratio would have been just 102.9% had there been no change in cat losses from the previous year. Meanwhile, US p/c insurers might close the year with $35bn in claims costs on individual and commercial property policies owing to damages from natural disasters, III president Robert Hartwig said at the weekend. The nine-month cat loss will be compounded by a late-October snowstorm and other Q4 events.