Commercial property/casualty insurance rates rose 1% on average in December compared with those of a year earlier, MarketScout reported Thursday.
The Dallas-based electronic insurance exchange said workers compensation experienced the largest increase at 3%, followed by commercial property and general liability with 2% increases.
No line of insurance monitored by MarketScout experienced a decrease, although several, including commercial automobile and fiduciary liability, were flat.
In general, the smaller the account, the larger the increase, with the smallest accounts monitored by MarketScout reporting 2% increases and the largest accounts enjoying flat rates.
“The December composite rate increase further supports our findings that the soft market cycle has ended,” said Richard Kerr, MarketScout CEO, in a statement announcing the results. “There will continue to be micromarkets where rates decline; however, on a composite basis, the trend is clearly toward rate increases.”
MarketScout first reported rate increases in November, when they went up by an average of 1%.
Commercial U.S. property/casualty insurance rates rose an average of 1% in November compared with the same period a year earlier, the first across-the-board increase in more than six years, according to MarketScout.