US Commercial Insurance Rates Show 6.3 Percent Rise in Q1 2024

US commercial insurance prices have maintained a steady trend of consistent increases. According to WTW's Commercial Lines Insurance Pricing Survey (CLIPS), for the first quarter of 2024, prices rose by 6.3 percent compared to the same period in 2023. This increase is consistent with the trend observed since the global pandemic.

The CLIPS survey, which compares insurance prices on policies underwritten during the first quarter of 2024 to those from the same quarter in 2023, highlights a sustained pattern of price hikes. Notably, excess umbrella liability coverage saw significant price increases, with rates moving back into double digits after a brief period of single-digit increases in late 2022.

Commercial property rates, which had slowed to single-digit increases between early 2021 and late 2022, have also seen double-digit increases over the past 5 quarters. Meanwhile, cyber insurance, which experienced substantial price hikes from mid-2020 to late 2022, has recently seen price decreases, with the latest figures showing a single-digit decline.

Directors and officers liability insurance, which had shifted from a hard to a soft market starting in mid-2022, has now stabilized with low to mid-single-digit decreases in recent quarters.

Yi Jing, senior director of insurance consulting and technology at WTW, said, "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, where we saw an acceleration of rate increases since the first quarter of 2023."

CLIPS data are derived from new and renewal business figures from US property and casualty insurers, including many of the top 10 commercial lines companies and top 25 insurance groups. The latest survey included contributions from 43 insurers, representing about 20 percent of the US commercial insurance market.