2024 split the market in two: a top end staging the largest deals in the industry's history, and a broad middle settling into a calm, sustainable cadence. This is the data; the era it belongs to is the new-normal-era explainer.
§ 01 · The year in contextA calm count, loud headlines.
2024 settled at 787 announced transactions (originally reported as 750), down about 6% and roughly 15% below the five-year average. Monthly volume ran in the mid-40s to mid-70s with no year-end dash — a rhythm the tracker explicitly compared to the pre-pandemic environment. The drama was at the top: three separate transactions each exceeding $7 billion were announced or closed during the year, the largest broker deals on record.
| Year | Announced deals | YoY change |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,108 | +43% |
| 2022 | 1,031 | −7% |
| 2023 | 782 | −24% |
| 2024 | 787 | −6% |
§ 02 · Who was buyingPE/Hybrid steadies near 72%.
Capital-backed share recovered slightly to about 72%. A classification change matters for any cross-year comparison: following a large acquisition, a major buyer that had been counted as PE/Hybrid was moved into the public-broker category, lifting the publicly traded share. Underneath the reshuffle, the buyer mix was stable — the new normal had a settled composition.
| Buyer type | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE / Hybrid | 74% | 69% | 72% |
| Privately owned | 17% | 21% | 18% |
| Publicly traded | 5% | 6% | 8% |
| Banks / other | 4% | 3% | 2% |
§ 03 · A new pace-setterThe leaderboard turns over.
The decade-long volume leader continued its retreat — down to about 24 deals, roughly 74% below its ten-year average — completing a multi-year structural pullback. In its place, a different platform set the pace at 90 deals, its own peak and roughly 94% above its five-year average: the first sustained challenger to the old order. The handoff at the top, more than the count, is the structural signal of 2024.
- 787 deals, down 6%. About 15% below the five-year average.
- Three $7B-plus transactions. The largest broker deals on record.
- A pre-pandemic rhythm. Steady monthly volume, no year-end dash.
- PE/Hybrid steadied near 72%. A classification change lifted the public share.
- A new pace-setter. A platform hit 90 deals as the old leader retreated to ~24.
- Megadeals, moderate middle. Headlines at the top, calm in the core market.
Headlines are made by megadeals; markets are made by the middle.
2024 is a reminder that the deals that make the news and the deals that make the market are rarely the same. Two implications: the multi-billion-dollar transactions reshape the buyer roster but not the economics of a $1–5M book — most sellers transact in a calm, mid-market environment that the headlines obscure; and a turning leaderboard means new buyers are actively building, so the field of motivated acquirers stays deep even as names change. The biggest deals set the tone at the top; your fundamentals set your price in the middle.
The reset before it is the 2023 summary; the floor that follows is the 2025 summary.
Coverage. Announced (not closed) U.S. and Canadian insurance-distribution transactions, compiled from public sources.
Restatement. 2024 was first reported at 750 and restated to 787 the following year as late deals surfaced.
Classification change. A major buyer was reclassified from PE/Hybrid into the public-broker category after a large acquisition, affecting cross-year buyer-type comparisons spanning 2024.