IVANS: Market Continuing To Harden

IVANS announced the IVANS Index: Premium Renewal Rate Index August 2019 results. Month over month, August experienced an uptick across nearly all of the commercial lines products except business owners policy, which experienced a slight negative change. Year over year, all lines of business experienced a positive premium renewal rate except for workers compensation, which remains negative.

The premium renewal rate change by line of business for August 2019 highlights include the following.

• Commercial auto. 4.49 percent, up from 4.03 percent last month
• Businessowners policy. 4.15 percent, down from 4.28 percent at the end of July
• General liability. 2.60 percent, up from 2.2 percent the month prior
• Commercial property. 4.14 percent, up from 4.12 percent in July
• Umbrella. 2.92 percent, up from 2.72 percent the month prior
• Workers compensation. -2.49 percent, up from -3.05 percent last month

"As premium renewal rates are climbing month over month, we see the market continuing to harden," said Brian Wood, vice president of Data Products Group, IVANS Insurance Services.

IVANS Index, released monthly, is a data-driven report on conditions and trends for premium rate renewal change of the most-placed commercial lines of business in the insurance industry. Based on the analysis of more than 120 million data transactions, the IVANS Index premium renewal rate change measures the premium difference year over year for a single consistent policy. It includes more than 32,000 agencies and 400 insurers and managing general agents, and it reflects premium rate change trends experienced by all agencies and insurers across the US insurance market. IVANS Index is available to agencies and insurers as part of IVANS's "Market Insights."

To derive the change in cost, IVANS uses policies that have the same insured, insurer, product type, policy number, expiration date, effective date, and producing agency. For example, if an insured paid $1,000 for a policy last year and $1,023 this year, IVANS Index would state that there is a premium renewal rate change of 2.3 percent. IVANS Index does not use exposure base change or claims experience. Policies with anomalous exposure changes or claims experience are removed.