All major commercial product lines in U.S. market enter positive territory: May IVANS Index

May marked the first time in several months that the premium renewal rate for all major commercial product lines in the United States were up year-over year, notes a new index released Thursday by IVANS, a division of Applied Systems.

The IVANS Index – which analyzes 120 million-plus data transactions and includes more than 30,000 agencies and 380 insurer and MGAs – reflects premium rate change trends experienced by all of the agencies and insurers across the U.S. insurance market.

“Premium renewal rate change across the industry remained consistent, with significant year-over-year change being experienced in business owner’s policy, general liability and workers compensation,” Matt Foran, vice president of IVANS Markets, reports in a statement.

Released monthly, the May index shows that all major commercial product lines are in positive territory. More specifically, the index indicates as follows:

• Commercial auto: 2.66% at the end of April, up from 2.65%;
• Business owner’s policy: at 4.49%, BOP is up from 4.02% the month prior;
• General liability: 1.46% at the end of April, it is down from 2.02%;
• Commercial property: at 2.78%, down from 2.95% the month prior;
• Umbrella: 0.81% at the end of April, umbrella is down from 1.04%; and
• Workers’ compensation: at 0.58%, it is up from -0.19% the month prior.

Compare those findings to figures from the 2017 Q1 IVANS Index.

Comparing the premium renewal rate change for the first quarters of 2017 and 2016, that report shows, among other things, the following:

• Commercial auto: renewal rate change averaged 2.71%, ending at 2.61% for March, while renewals held steady above 2.5% and below 3.0% for the quarter;
• Business owner’s policy: renewal rate change averaged 3.89%, ending at 3.86% for March, although quarter-over-quarter, the change was flat;
• Commercial property: from a renewal rate change of 2.71% at the end of 2016, the change fell in 2017 Q1 to an average of 2.66%; and
• Workers’ compensation: represented the only soft market with negative premium renewal rate change, averaging -0.48% for 2017 Q1.

Related: Commercial insurance prices in U.S. remain flat during 2016 Q4