Trend towards higher property rates disappearing: Aon

The end of 2009 presents a very different property market landscape than at  the beginning of 2009, with the trend toward higher property rates largely disappearing in 2009 Q3, Aon reports.
In its Quarterly Market Overview: Summary and Forecast, Aon examines the 2009 Q3 results for property, casualty and directors’ and officers’ lines in the United States.
Rates increased for the first two quarters of 2009 on average by 4.4% and 4.9%, respectively. Rates in Q3 were generally flat, with a 0.2% increase.
Property schedules with little or no natural catastrophe exposures continued to experience a competitive marketplace.
More than 71% of risks purchased the same limits they did the year before, but the 2009 Q3 period included a 24.7% increase in risks buying higher limits.
Risks buying lower limits dropped to the lowest level for the past four quarters.
More than 92% of insureds maintained the same deductible in 2009 Q3, with 6.2% opting for a higher deductible.
“Many of the renewals in the first two quarters of 2008 took the brunt of the brief 2008 hard property market,” the report says. “We expect that when many of these risks renew in 2009, they will experience varying degrees of improved rates and pricing.”