State of Water Risk ‘26

State of Water Risk ‘26 · Annual report

Water damage has never been more avoidable.

We analyzed 2,557 confirmed water events across 200+ properties in the operating portfolio. Here is what separates the buildings that lose six figures from the ones that catch the leak in minutes.

Methodology: 200+ properties, about 110,000 water-escape sensors and 140,000+ active Eddy devices. Research by the Eddy Monitoring Center team, 2025.

Read the findings

What the operating portfolio actually tells us.

01

$98M

in property damage prevented across our 2025 monitoring portfolio, in USD. The difference between a $2,000 cleanup and a $150,000 multi-unit restoration is almost entirely a function of time.


02

59%

Major leaks peak at 2 AM12a6aNoon6p12a

of 2,557 confirmed water events in 2025 happened outside business hours. Major leaks, the ones with the most destructive potential, peak at 2 AM. Most buildings have no one watching the alert chain when it matters most.


03

57%

of processed commercial property claims are water damage. Water is now the number one cause of commercial property loss (Zurich North America), and the gap is widening every year.

65%

56%

41%

59%

Multi-familyCommercialConstructionPortfolio

After-hours is when the math compounds.

Across 2,557 confirmed events in 2025, 59% happened outside business hours. Multi-family takes the worst of it at 65%, with major leaks, the ones with the most destructive potential, peaking at 2 AM. The fastest buildings have a 24/7 monitoring program on the same circuit as their shutoff valves.

Read the intro

Aon water-risk whitepaper

As the value of the water damage claim increases, so does the mitigation effectiveness in reducing loss amounts by utilizing water protection systems.

Aon studied a portfolio of historical commercial water loss claims and found that Eddy’s system would have positively affected 58% of them.

Interactive · keep exploring

See your building's risk profile.

Plug your asset type, size and age into the same data behind this report. Get the leaks to expect, the three sources behind them and a personalized PDF for your board, broker or stakeholders.

Property damage prevented

2025 portfolio

$98M

Across 200+ properties on the Eddy program. See where your building sits, and what changes when it's on the chain.

Stack

Off-hours

Response

Inside the report.

  1. 01

    Detection has gotten faster

    Smart sensors detect flow anomalies in seconds. Ultrasonic meters and connected shutoff valves have made detection a solved problem. Most buildings still rely on a sensor that does not talk to anything.

    Key findings

    • Every event in the 2025 dataset was sensor-detected and verified by the Eddy monitoring center, with response measured in minutes, not hours.
    • About 110,000 water-escape sensors across 200+ properties fed the analysis.
    Read chapter
  2. 02

    The 2 AM problem

    65% of multi-family leaks in 2025 happened after business hours, and the 2 AM hour saw the single highest concentration of major leaks, the ones with the most destructive potential. The detection works. The response chain is what fails.

    Key findings

    • 59% of all confirmed events happened after business hours. In multi-family buildings, 65% of leaks did.
    • Midnight to 5 AM produced 132 leaks, 29 of them major, the kind with the most destructive potential. The 2 AM hour had more major leaks than any other.
    • A weekend mechanical failure can run 36 to 60 hours undetected without monitored response.
    Where water damage starts in multi-family buildings
  3. 03

    Insurance is rewriting the math

    Interior water damage claim severity is up 8% since 2019, and water damage is now the leading cause of commercial property loss, at 57% of the claims Zurich North America processes each year. Carriers are tightening terms. Some require detection systems as a condition of coverage. Sources: Verisk, Zurich North America.

    Key findings

    • Water is the leading cause of commercial property loss at 57% of processed claims (Zurich North America), with claim severity up 8% since 2019 (Verisk).
    • Monitored buildings have documented premium savings of up to 20%, with deductible reductions of up to 80% documented at individual properties.
    • Even counting only the leaks that became insurance claims, Aon's independent 2023 whitepaper found the Eddy system would have reduced total water damage losses by 23%.
  4. 04

    Speed of response is the new advantage

    $98M in property damage prevented across the 2025 portfolio. Almost entirely a function of time. Properties with auto-isolation and a 24/7 monitoring program responded in minutes. Everyone else responded in hours.

    Key findings

    • $98M (US) in property damage prevented across the 2025 portfolio.
    • Construction sites showed a 69.6% leak rate, nearly 3x the rate of operating multi-family buildings.
    • Average damage per confirmed leak: $64,200 in multi-family and $91,200 in commercial buildings.

Cite this report.

These findings are free to reference with attribution to Eddy Solutions. Copy any of the lines below as written.

  • Eddy Solutions' State of Water Risk '26 report analyzed 2,557 confirmed water events across 200+ monitored properties in 2025.
  • Per Eddy's 2026 State of Water Risk report, 59% of water events across all building types happen outside business hours and 65% of leaks in multi-family buildings start after hours. Major leaks, the ones with the most destructive potential, peak at 2 AM.
  • Eddy's monitored portfolio prevented an estimated $98M (US) in property damage in 2025.
  • In Eddy's 2025 portfolio, construction sites showed a 69.6% leak rate, nearly three times the rate of operating multi-family buildings.

Cite as: Eddy Solutions, State of Water Risk ‘26. Research by the Eddy Monitoring Center team, 2026. eddysolutions.com/state-of-water-risk

Chat
Let's talk leak detection