US Commercial insurance rates up 5 percent in fourth quarter

Fourth quarter rates for commercial insurance placements across the United States increased 5 percent according to MarketScout, an insurance distribution and underwriting company headquartered in Dallas which compiles the Commercial and Personal Lines Market Barometers.

The steady trend of upward rate movement reflects insurers’ plans to continue increasing prices across all lines of coverage with workers’ compensation being the only exception.

Richard Kerr, CEO of MarketScout said: “Auto rate increases have been up all year long; however, D&O and professional rate increases have spiked significantly in the fourth quarter. “Insurers are utilizing the many catastrophe modelling tools to carefully analyse their property exposures. We expect many of the major property catastrophe insurers to curtail their 2020 writings in California brush and East and Gulf Coast wind areas. Naturally, this will result in higher rates to insureds.”

The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research conducted pricing surveys used in MarketScout's analysis of market conditions. These surveys help to further corroborate MarketScout's actual findings, mathematically driven by new and renewal placements across the United States.