Commercial property/casualty rates remain soft in 2nd quarter: Survey

Commercial property/casualty insurance pricing continued to soften during the second quarter, according to the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers' quarterly “Commercial Property/Casualty Market Index Survey,” the Council said Thursday.

Pricing for small, medium and large accounts slipped just 0.5% on average during the period, compared with an average pricing decline of 1.5% during the first quarter of 2014 and 4.3% during the second quarter of 2013, according to Council survey data.

Large accounts showed the greatest decline at 2.6%, with medium accounts showing a 0.2% decline and small accounts increasing 1.2%.

Property insurance pricing was particularly soft, showing a decline of 2.6% compared with flat pricing during the first quarter, the Council said in its statement, which quoted one Northeast insurance broker as saying “the property market was very soft with lots of capacity.”

Competition and capacity continued to weigh on pricing, according to Ken Crerar, president and CEO of the council.

“The commercial market continued along the same path as it traveled in the first quarter,” said Mr. Crerar in the statement. “Pricing responded predictably to strong competition and plenty of capacity to underwrite most commercial lines.”

The second half of the year will be similarly affected by capacity, as well as by profitability and catastrophe losses, said Mr. Crerar.

The survey is available here.