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June 11, 2012 at 08:01 AM
Although total fixed annuity sales were down quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year, income and indexed annuities fared a bit better. That was the finding of a Q1 report from Beacon Research.
According to its “Fixed Annuity Premium Study,” Beacon found that overall fixed annuity sales amounted to $16.9 billion in the first quarter, down 2.2% from the $17.3 billion sold in the fourth quarter of last year and a decrease of 8.8% from Q1 2011’s tally of $18.6 billion.
Variable annuity sales also dipped in the first quarter.
In the indexed annuity sector, sales inched down 2.2% between the first quarter of this year and the fourth quarter of 2011, dropping from $8.4 billion to $8.2 billion. However, year-over-year, sales increased 8.9%from $7.5 billion to $8.2 billion.
The same pattern was evidenced in the income annuity space. First-quarter sales of $2.15 billion represented a 3% drop from the fourth-quarter 2011 number of $2.22 billion. Yet the Q1 total was nearly 23% higher than the first-quarter 2011 sum of $1.8 billion.
The Beacon report further points out that for the first time, the quarter’s best-selling product was an income annuity, New York Life’s Lifetime Income Annuity. Other top sellers were annuities from Aviva, Allianz Life and American Equity.
