U.S. commercial insurance prices have remained nearly flat during the third quarter – continuing a trend of moderate price increases since 2013, according to Willis Towers Watson’s Commercial Lines Insurance Pricing Survey (CLIPS).
Q3 become the ninth consecutive quarter in which the industry has seen price changes at less than 1%, with the exception of commercial auto which saw significant price hikes.
“Through three quarters of 2017, preliminary data indicate little movement in P&C commercial insurers’ loss ratios (excluding the impact of catastrophes) — an improvement from last quarter — as insurers revised downward their earlier initial estimates of claim cost inflation,” said Pierre Laurin, Americas Property & Casualty sales and practice leader for Insurance Consulting and Technology, Willis Towers Watson.
The survey compared prices on policies written during the third quarter of 2017 with prices from the same period last year and found the trend of moderate price increases at less than 1% had continued since the first quarter of 2013.
Price changes in the third quarter for most lines of business were fairly consistent with pricing patterns in the second quarter.
Workers compensation and directors and officer’s liability saw modest price decreases in the low single digits, while commercial property prices moved towards moderation with only a slight decrease.
Commercial auto, however, continues to go against the moderating trend, with meaningful price increases.
Price changes were positive for small account sizes and fairly flat for mid-market and large accounts, according to the Willis survey.
