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U.S. sales of individual indexed deferred annuities and other non-variable deferred annuities were a little higher in the fourth quarter of 2017 than they were in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to Wink.

Insurers generated about $21 billion in non-variable annuity sales in the fourth quarter, up 0.6% from the total for the year-earlier quarter, Wink says in its latest Sales & Market report.

In the third quarter, sales of non-variable annuities were 11% lower than in the year-earlier quarter.

(Related: Individual Annuity Sales Softened in Q3: Wink)

Wink bases its data on survey data from 99 providers of deferred non-variable annuities.

Here’s how year-over-year sales trends broke down by product line:

  • Sales of indexed annuities increased 2.4%, to about $14 billion.
  • Sales of traditional fixed annuities fell 27%, to $755 million.
  • Sales of multi-year guaranteed annuities rose 1.35%, to $6.7 billion.

Sales performance varied widely from company to company, with three of the insurers in the top five — units of AIG, Global Atlantic Financial Group and New York Life  — reporting year-over-year gains in non-variable annuity sales and two reporting big decreases in sales.

— Read Annuity Sales May Be Starting to Firm Up: Wink on ThinkAdvisor.

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