The premium renewal rates for a majority of major U.S commercial product lines are trending positively, according to new data for the month of May, compiled by IVANS, a division of Applied Systems.
IVANS Index results for May showed that the only major lines to experience a downturn in their premium rates were Commercial Auto and Umbrella, although these lines still remained in positive territory.
General Liability saw particularly strong growth, with premium renewal rates rising from 2.16% at the end of April to 2.37% in May, and improving on its quarterly averages of 2.01% at Q1 2018 and 1.86% at Q4 2017.
Commercial Property also improved from 2.98% in April to 3.20% in May, compared with its quarterly averages of 3.11% at Q1 2018 and 2.91% at Q4 2017.
Additionally, Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) rose from 3.86% in April to 4.02% in May, building on its average quarterly rate changes of 4.00% in Q1 2018 and 3.85% in Q4 2017.
In contrast, Commercial Auto premium renewal rates fell from 4.54% at the end of April to 4.04% in May, compared with average growth of 4.20% in Q1 2018 and 3.11% in Q4 2017.
Umbrella similarly fell from 2.31% in April to 1.54% in May, although it remained ahead of its quarterly averages of 1.49% for Q1 2018 and 1.34% for Q4 2017.
Workers’ Compensation saw mild improvement from -2.93% to -2.71%, but remained negative overall and down from its recently quarterly averages of -2.47% over Q1 2018 and -2.32% over Q4 2017.
Brian Wood, Vice President of IVANS Markets, commented: “The latest IVANS Index figures show that premium rate change across the industry remains steadily positive with average variance from month to month across nearly all lines, except for Umbrella which experienced the most significant trend change.
“This month’s IVANS Index demonstrates that the Commercial Lines market remains hard and further provides guidance on the most profitable lines of business for both insurers and agents.”
The IVANS Index is a monthly report that analyses more than 120 million data transactions from 30,000 agencies and 380 insurers and MGAs in the U.S market to describe the current conditions and trends for premium rate renewal change for the most placed commercial lines of business in the insurance industry.
