A Look at Rate Trends
Premium renewal rates were up again in fourth-quarter 2024 but continue to trend lower for most commercial lines products.
Premiums increased year over year for all major commercial lines, except workers’ compensation, according to the January 2025 results of the Ivans Index.
Month over month, commercial auto, business owners policy (BOP), and commercial property experienced decreases in premium renewal rate change, while general liability, umbrella, and workers’ comp saw an increase, the Index revealed.
Ivans reported that premium renewal rate changes by line of business include:
- Commercial Auto: 9.4%, down from nearly 10% in December, but up from January 2024, which was 7.4%.
- BOP: 9%, down from 9.6% at the end of December. This is a slight decrease from last year’s 9.3% in January.
- General Liability: 4.2%, up slightly from December, which was 4.16%, and decreasing from January 2024, which was 5.4%.
- Commercial Property: 9.74%, down significantly from 11.1% in December, as well as from 10.3% in January 2024.
- Umbrella: 9.5%, up from 9.1% in December 2024 and 6.35% in January 2024.
- Workers’ Compensation: -1.44%, up slightly from -1.45% in December, but down from -0.67% in January 2024.
The Ivans Index analyzes more than 120 million data transactions, measuring the premium difference year over year.
In another recent survey, The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB) reported slightly lower increases for commercial property/casualty premiums across all account sizes, noting overall premiums rose by 5.4% in Q4 2024–about the same as the third quarter’s 5.1% and the second quarter’s 5.2%. CIAB said the last quarter of 2024 was the 29th consecutive quarter of premium increases across all account sizes.
According to CIAB, while commercial property remained a challenge in Q4, premiums increased by an average of 6% compared to nearly 8% in Q3 and almost 12% in Q4 2023. Premiums for D&O, workers’ compensation, employment practices, and cyber fell in Q4, with cyber seeing the largest decrease out of all lines of 1.8%.
Commercial auto and umbrella rates each went up in Q4, the survey found. Marking the 54th straight quarter of increases, commercial auto had the highest average increase in premiums out of all lines, at 8.9%. Umbrella had an average premium increase of 8.7% in Q4. “Claims for [commercial auto] seemed to have risen, with 50% of respondents reporting an increase in claims in Q4 2024.”
