Structured annuities set record pace with $62.9B sales in 2024

Sales of structured annuities surged to new highs in 2024, increasing 39.6 percent from 2023 to set a record of $62.9 billion for the year, according to a new report from Wink.

In its latest sales and market report released Friday, Wink said the fourth quarter alone saw $17.2 billion in structured annuity sales, up 7.1 percent from the previous quarter and 38.0 percent year-over-year.

“Structured annuity sales keep going up, up, up,” Sheryl Moore, CEO of Wink and Moore Market Intelligence, said in a release announcing the results. “Consumers want a limit to how much they can lose but have the opportunity for fantastic gains as well.”

Equitable Financial led structured annuity sales in the fourth quarter, holding a 21.7 percent market share, followed by Prudential, Allianz Life, Brighthouse Financial, and Jackson National Life. 

Beyond structured annuities, total annuity sales across all product types reached $427.7 billion in 2024. The fourth quarter saw $100.2 billion in total annuity sales, a 13.0 percent decline from the previous three-month period.

That tracks closely with another report from Limra in January, which found retail annuity sales hit an all-time high of $432.4 billion in 2024, obscuring a slowdown from $114.7 billion in Q3 to $100.4 billion in Q4.

Indexed annuities also posted a record-breaking year as sales reached $130 billion, a 33.7 percent increase from the prior year. While fourth-quarter indexed annuity sales fell 13.1 percent from the previous quarter to $31.9 billion, they were up 22.2 percent from the same period in 2023.

“While indexed annuity sales were down for the quarter, low CD rates and an upward-trending market lent to increases in this product line for the same quarter last year, as well as for 2024,” Moore said.

Variable annuities continued their upward march, with fourth-quarter sales of $17.8 billion, marking a 17.9 percent quarterly increase and a 52.9 percent jump from the same quarter in 2023. For the full year, VA sales totaled $61.3 billion, up 25.4 percent.

From its vantage point, Limra found VA sales reached $61.2 billion in 2024, the first increase in three years, with advisor demand and stock market strength combining to boost demand by 19 percent.

"Double-digit growth in the equity market, product innovation and increased interest from registered investment advisors propelled sales," senior vice president and head of Limra research Bryan Hodgens said at the time.

Fixed annuity products saw mixed results. Multi-year guaranteed annuity sales fell 31.3 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the prior quarter, with annual sales totaling $156.3 billion, up 1.5 percent year-over-year. Traditional fixed annuities generated $2.0 billion in sales for 2024, a 2.4 percent decline from the prior year.

Meanwhile, income annuity sales totaled $14.9 billion for the year, with $3.5 billion in fourth-quarter sales, down 17.2 percent from the prior quarter. New York Life led income annuity sales with a 37.2 percent market share.