Something unusual happened to U.S. individual annuity sales in the second quarter: Sales of both fixed annuities and variable annuities increased, at the same time.
Sales of fixed annuities increased to $34 billion in the second quarter, up 18% from the total for the second quarter of 2017, according to the latest LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute issuer survey.
Sales of variable annuities increased 2%, year-over-year, to $26 billion.
Sales of VA fixed accounts fell 4%, to $5.5 billion, but sales of VA separate accounts rose 4%, to $20 billion.
Total U.S. individual annuity sales rose 10%, to about $60 billion.
(Related: Indexed Annuity Sales Jump: LIMRA)
The simultaneous increase in sales of both fixed and variable annuities appears to be the first the institute has recorded since early 2011.
The institute includes indexed annuity results in the fixed annuity total.