Premium Increases Slowed But Challenging Conditions Remain
The Council’s Commercial P/C Market Index for Q4 is here.
The average premium increase across all account sizes was 7.0%, down from 8.1% in the previous quarter.
Nevertheless, Q4 2023 was still the 25th quarter of consecutive increases.
Almost all lines of business recorded smaller increases than in the previous quarter, often lower by a percentage point or more. Cyber premiums increased by just 0.7%, and D&O was even lower, at 0.1%.
Commercial property premiums rose by 11.8%, down noticeably from 17.1% in Q3 2023, but still the highest increase of all lines. All the same factors as in previous quarters were still at play: issues with reinsurance affordability and availability, climate change-driven natural catastrophe losses, and inflation.