Survey Finds Commercial Insurance Price Increases Accelerated in Q1

US commercial insurance prices continued to increase during the first quarter of this year, rising 5.6 percent, according to Willis Towers Watson's (WTW's) Commercial Lines Insurance Pricing Survey (CLIPS).

The first quarter's commercial insurance price increase was up from the 4.8 percent increase during the fourth quarter of 2022.

WTW's most recent quarterly CLIPS compared prices for policies underwritten during the first 3 months of this year to those charged for the same coverage during the same period in 2022.

Commercial property saw the greatest price increase during this year's first quarter with a double-digit increase, WTW said, up from the prior quarter. Commercial auto also experienced a double-digit increase during the quarter, though that was down slightly from the prior quarter.

Workers compensation continued to see a price decrease, as did directors and officers liability, with both lines experiencing price increases similar to those of 2022's fourth quarter.

"Rates continued to harden across nearly all lines of coverage in the first quarter, with an aggregate price increase higher than in the prior quarter, driven primarily by the double-digit increase from commercial property, constrained by the impact of recent high inflation," Yi Jing, director of insurance consulting and technology at WTW, said in a statement.

Willis Towers Watson's CLIPS is a retrospective look at historical changes in commercial property-casualty insurance prices and claims cost inflation.