US commercial rate growth steady at 6.3% Q1; excess/umbrella buoy
US commercial insurance rates rose 6.3% y/y in Q1, a largely stable growth rate with double-digit gains in excess umbrella liability buoying against more stable rates in commercial property and steady declines in cyber and D&O, WTW’s Q1 2024 commercial lines insurance pricing survey (CLIPS) has shown.
“Rates continued to harden across many coverage lines in the first quarter of 2024, but have slowed somewhat from the previous quarter, with the exception of excess/umbrella liability,” Yi Jing, senior director of Insurance Consulting and Technology (ICT) at WTW remarked.
Excess umbrella liability led the charge, on what Jing called “an acceleration of rate increases since the first quarter of 2023” after slipping to a local single-digit low in Q4 2022.
Elsewhere, rate trend proved milder. Commercial property held to double digit growth for the fifth straight quarter. Cyber rates came down Q1 at a single-digit annual pace in further retreat from the mid-2020 to Q3 2022 hardening and D&O rates stabilised some, shifting into low to mid-single digit decreases.
CLIPS uses data sourced from carriers underwriting new and renewal business, including a cross-section of US P&C insurers.
Did you get value from this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.
