Most major U.S commercial product lines experienced a downward trend in premium renewal rates during January 2019, according to the latest monthly results of the IVANS Index, which tracks commercial re/insurance pricing.
IVANS, which is a division of Applied Systems, observed a negative change in average premium renewal rates across the majority of commercial lines.
This was with the exception of Commercial Auto and Workers’ Compensation, which experienced a positive uptick in rates, and Business Owners Policy (BOP), which remained flat.
General Liability lines saw the most significant shift, with rates changes shrinking from 2.23% in December to 1.16% in January.
Meanwhile, Commercial Property decreased from 3.95% in December to 3.74% in January and Umbrella fell from 2.29% to 2.17%.
In contrast, Commercial Auto increased marginally from 4.51% in December to 4.57% in January, while BOP remained consistent with the prior month at 4.23%.
Workers’ Compensation lines improved from -2.66% to -1.04% month-on-month, but continued to experience negative rate movements overall.
Compared to the year prior, IVANS noted that average premium renewal increased across all lines of business except Workers Compensation.
“Most commercial product lines saw a slight downturn in the beginning of 2019 as compared to December 2018,” said Brian Wood, Vice President of the Data Products Group at IVANS.
“Month over month, IVANS Index continues to be utilized by agents to gain greater insights for better advice to clients during renewal periods and by insurers to support pricing strategies,” he added.
The IVANS Index analyses more than 120 million data transactions from 32,000 agencies and 400 insurers and MGAs to track premium rate trends year-over-year in the U.S insurance market.
