They have had to find ways to cut insurance coverage costs by purchasing less coverage and/or taking higher retentions, “but that just increases the capacity,” he observes.

He adds that he was “actually surprised to see over the past couple of quarters how well rates were holding up, given the enormous amount of capacity in the market.”

“When talking to risk managers,” he says, “they confirmed that insurers were willing to hold the line on prices and walk away from some risks.”

However, he says, “I couldn't see that holding up indefinitely. We're seeing, at least for this quarter, some cracks in that resolve.”

The survey found that commercial property insurance posted the largest rate decrease, falling 4.2 percent on average for policies renewing during the quarter. The average workers' compensation premium fell 3.2 percent, and the average directors and officers premium dropped 2.3 percent.

General liability was the only line tracked by the survey to not record a material decrease, declining only 0.8 percent.

RIMS reported in February, on the 2010 fourth quarter, that D&O liability was the only line that saw a material decrease compared to the prior year. D&O rates fell 4.6 percent, with large companies with revenue greater than $1 billion seeing greater declines, approaching 5.1 percent. Smaller companies saw declines around 2.4 percent, RIMS said.

It is still relatively early in the year with the Atlantic hurricane season still ahead, “but barring a large catastrophe, 2011 looks to be another year of competitive pricing,” Frederick Savage, RIMS board of directors, says in a statement. “There certainly is no shortage of capacity in most lines.”