Commercial insurance renewal rates pulled back across most major lines in Q2 2026, according to the Ivans Index. Five of the six tracked lines posted lower averages than the prior quarter, though all except workers' compensation remained up year over year.
The results extend a softening trend in commercial market pricing that has built since late 2025. The Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers (CIAB) reported in May that average commercial premiums across all account sizes fell 1.2% in Q1 2026. That ended a 33-quarter streak of increases and marked the clearest broad-market shift in nearly nine years.
Commercial auto averaged a 4.93% premium renewal rate change in Q2 2026, down from 5.28% in Q1. That figure also sits well below Q2 2025's average of 8.43%, a year-over-year decline that points to how far the line has moderated. New York ran far above the national average, with monthly figures between 12.80% and 13.98% across the quarter.
Business owner's policy (BOP) averaged 6.16% in Q2, compared with 6.74% in Q1 and 7.87% in Q2 2025. April registered the quarter's high of 6.43%, while June recorded the low of 5.97%.
General liability fell quarter over quarter, from 6.85% in Q1 to 5.44% in Q2. It was the only line to post a higher average than Q2 2025, when it averaged 4.66%. Rates peaked at 5.70% in April and settled at 5.33% in June.
Commercial property averaged 6.40% for the quarter, below Q1's 6.83% and Q2 2025's 7.89%. North Carolina was an outlier, with monthly rate changes above 10% throughout the quarter.
Umbrella posted the largest quarterly decline of any tracked line, from 9.36% in Q1 to 7.96% in Q2. The line also came in below Q2 2025's average of 9.07%, with April beginning at 8.27% and the rate at 7.60% by June.
Despite the pullback, umbrella remained the highest-rated line in the index. Michigan ran well above the national average, with figures between 15.78% and 17.78% across the quarter.
Workers' compensation was the only line to move in the opposite direction quarter over quarter. It continued in negative territory but edged upward, from -1.73% in Q1 to -1.37% in Q2, and improved from -1.75% in Q2 2025. May produced the highest rate change at -1.31%, while June reached a low of -1.45%.
Workers' compensation has posted negative renewal rates for several consecutive quarters, driven by sustained carrier profitability. The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) recorded the line's net combined ratio at 91% for 2025. Medical cost inflation and claim severity are drawing closer scrutiny heading into the second half of the year.
“Renewal rates across most commercial lines continued to soften in the second quarter, extending a trend we've seen build over the past year," said Michael Streit, president of Applied Systems Carrier. "The Ivans Index gives agents, brokers and carriers a consistent, data-driven view of these shifts as they plan for the remainder of the year.”
The index analyzes more than 120 million data transactions to produce a monthly rate benchmark across the commercial lines market. The Q2 data arrives as agents and carriers enter the second half of the year. Rate trajectories across umbrella, general liability, and workers' compensation are likely to draw the most attention heading into Q3 renewals.
