Insurance premiums for apartment buildings have been rising faster than for the rest of commercial real estate, further squeezing landlord profits during a challenging period to collect rent, the Wall Street Journal reported. Renewal rates for multifamily insurance increased 33 percent on average over the past year, compared with 23 percent for the real-estate sector at large, according to insurance brokerage Marsh, a unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos. Insurers expect rates to keep climbing. Global insurance prices could jump faster in 2020 if the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic leads to a large number of insurance claims around the world. Some insurers pulled back from selling insurance to apartment owners in 2019, and the decrease in competition also contributed to the jump in premiums, said Marc Reisner, managing director of multifamily at Marsh.
