US commercial P&C renewal rates fall for second month from peak: Ivans
US commercial P&C insurance renewal rate growth came down for a consecutive month across five of six charted lines, taking it the other way only for surging umbrella rates, the latest reading of the Ivans Index indicated.
Renewal rates on umbrella policies surged 2.4 percentage points for the month to 9.5%, now the second hottest class amongst the six measured. Three months of uninterrupted gains for the line has now brought 3.2 points of acceleration, the top three month gain for any line in recent years.
Elsewhere, April was the second month running for renewal rate deceleration.
A simple average of all six commercial lines shows the annual rate growth slowing by 0.4 percentage points from the March reading to 6.4%, now down 0.9 points from the 7.3% mid-term peak noted in February. Counting out the outlier of workers’ comp, average renewal rate growth slipped by 0.3 points to 8.1%.
Commercial property remains the segment with the fastest growing renewal rates, just fractionally below the 10% mark and still within a range now in place for just over a year.
Commercial auto, volatile for more than half a year, saw growth slow by a hefty 1.4 percentage points to an 8.2% annual rate, now the lower half of the 7.4 to 10.3% range through which the segment renewals have bounced since October.
Annual renewal rate growth for business owners’ policies came down by a notable 0.9 points in April to 7.9%, the lowest reading since September.
US general liability remains the least volatile amongst major lines tracked, down a sizeable 1.3 points in April to 4.8%, within its mid-term range and even within a point of the mid-term low.
Workers’ compensation rates continue to languish without visible traction. The April reading showing 2.2% annual contraction is a new mid-term low, edg9ing out a prior low dating to mid-2021.
Ivans releases its commercial insurance pricing index of premium rate renewal changes on a monthly basis. The Ivans Index measures the premium difference year over year for a single consistent policy based on data of more than 38,000 agencies and 600 insurers and MGAs.
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