Commercial insurance prices rise 3%: Marsh

Average commercial insurance prices increased 3.0% during the first quarter of 2019, according to the Global Insurance Market Index released Thursday by Marsh LLC.

It the largest increase since the survey began in 2012 and the sixth consecutive quarter of average commercial insurance pricing increases, according to the broker.

This compares with 2.1% in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 0.9% in the first quarter of 2018, according to data in the report.

Pricing for property risks increased 4.7% on average globally, slightly above the rates recorded in the previous four quarters, Marsh said, noting “property rates have increased globally every quarter since the catastrophe events in the fourth quarter of 2017.”

Casualty prices declined 0.7% on average, continuing a trend started in 2013, while average pricing in financial and professional lines increased by 5.6%.

Regionally, the Pacific had the largest price increases in the index at 16.1%, matching the fourth quarter of 2018 and extending a trend that has continued for eight quarters, the report said.

The U.S saw 1.1% growth, the U.K. 2.9% and Continental Europe 2.0%, data showed.

U.S. property pricing increased 4% and has now increased each quarter since late 2017, the report said.

“While 3% is the largest average increase in insurance pricing we have seen since the index began in 2012, market capacity remains strong in most products and geographies,” Dean Klisura, New York-based president of global placement at Marsh, said in a statement released with the report.