Ivans: Umbrella pricing accelerates in Q1

By Chris Munro

April 23 - (The Insurer) - The umbrella segment was the only one of the six major business lines tracked by the Ivans Index where average premium renewal rates increased year on year in Q1 2025.

In umbrella, premium renewal rate change averaged 9.26% in 2025’s first quarter, a big increase from the 6.81% booked during the same period last year.

The 9.26% recorded in 2025’s first quarter was also an increase when compared with the 8.76% generated in Q4 2024.

In each of the five remaining business lines tracked by the Ivans Index, average premium renewal rates slowed in Q1 2025 when compared with the prior-year period.

Commercial auto average premium renewal rate stood at 9.24% in 2025’s first quarter, an increase when compared with the 9.09% recorded during Q1 2024.

However, that 9.24% is a slowdown when compared with the 9.82% average premium renewal rate that commercial auto recorded during 2024’s final quarter, according to Ivans.

In the business owner’s policy (BOP) segment, the average premium renewal rate totaled 8.56% in 2025’s first quarter, down from the 9.30% booked in the same stretch in 2024.

The BOP average premium renewal rate in Q1 2025 of 8.56% was also down when compared with the 9.09% seen during the final three months of last year.

General liability average premium renewal rate was 3.95% in Q1 2025, a significant drop when compared with the 5.89% booked during the same three month stretch at the beginning of 2024.

However, the decrease was far more marginal when compared with the final quarter of 2024 when the general liability average premium renewal rate was 3.98%.

Commercial property’s average premium renewal rate was 8.57% in 2025’s first quarter, a reduction of almost 2 points when compared with the 10.52% seen in Q1 2024.

The reduction was even more pronounced when compared with the 2024’s final quarter, with the 8.57% seen in Q1 2025 a notable drop from the 11.11% seen for the three months to December 31, 2024.

For workers’ compensation, the average premium renewal rate stood at -1.51% for the three months to March 31, 2025, compared with -0.88% in the prior-year period.

The -1.51% decrease in Q1 2025 was a marginal change from the -1.47% seen in the final quarter of 2024.

“While we saw quarterly premium renewal rates for nearly all major commercial lines decrease during the first quarter, there’s still pressure on many lines of business due to the challenging macroeconomic environment,” said Kathy Hrach, senior vice president of product management at Ivans.

“The current administration is beginning to make new economic and global policies that are sure to have an impact on our industry, and we expect to see the effects of these decisions reflected through the Ivans Index in the coming months,” Hrach added.