Fixed annuity sales stayed hot in Q1, Limra says

Total fixed annuity sales surged 101% to $70.9 billion in the first three months of 2023, compared with last year’s results.

The hot streak in fixed annuity sales kept going in the first quarter of 2023.

According to Limra’s Individual Annuity Sales Survey, total fixed annuity sales surged 101% to $70.9 billion in the first three months of 2023, compared with last year’s results. The Limra report said every major fixed annuity product line experienced at least double-digit growth.

Limra’s report said overall annuity sales came in at $94.1 billion, a 49% increase over prior year results. Fixed-rate deferred annuity sales, which account for 44% of all annuity sales, soared 161% to $41.5 billion in the first quarter, the fourth consecutive quarter of record-breaking sales.

Todd Giesing, assistant vice president at Limra, expects demand for fixed annuity products to drive overall sales for the foreseeable future.

“Continued equity market volatility and favorable interest rates coupled with investor concerns about the banking sector and a potential recession have made fixed annuities an attractive choice to shield assets, generate protected growth and establish guaranteed income for retirement,” Giesing said in a statement.

Sandra Cho, president of Pointwealth Capital Management, says conservative investors have been “lapping up fixed annuities because they haven’t tasted decent rates in 15 years.”

“They have been starving for higher fixed-rate products and now that they have them, they seemingly want to lock them in with the knowledge this oasis could fade as quickly as it came,” Cho said.

Elsewhere, the report revealed that fixed-indexed annuity sales jumped 42% to $23.1 billion in the first quarter, setting a record for the third consecutive quarter. Meanwhile, single-premium immediate annuity sales more than doubled (127%) in the first quarter, to $3.3 billion. Deferred-income annuity sales spiked 127% to $830 million in the first quarter, according to Limra.

On the flip side, traditional variable annuity sales fell year-over-year for the fifth consecutive quarter. Traditional VA sales were $12.8 billion in the first quarter, down 31% from the first quarter of 2022.