The soft commercial property/casualty insurance market shows no sign of ending, according to a survey released Thursday by the New York-based Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc.

The “RIMS Benchmark Survey,” which is administered by New York-based consultant Advisen Ltd., found decreases in premiums for every line of coverage tracked by the survey during the first quarter this year.

The survey found that general liability was the most competitive line during the quarter, with the average premium falling 4.4%. The average property premium, which had been essentially flat during the past several quarters, fell 2.9%. The average workers compensation premium fell 2% and the average directors and officers liability premium declined 1.1%.

The average D&O premium “had been flat to slightly higher throughout 2009 due to rate increases in the financial institution sector, but those increases now have abated,” RIMS and Advisen said in a statement announcing the survey results.

“Insurance capacity is abundant throughout the commercial lines market, but the lingering impact of the global recession has reduced the demand for that capacity,” Dave Bradford, Advisen executive vp, said in the statement. “Abundant capacity, coupled with diminished demand, keeps downward pressure on rates. As things now stand, insurance buyers can anticipate another year of favorable insurance prices, although catastrophe claims always are a wild card in the pricing cycle.”

Rate levels were lower, but insurers still posted good results last year, said Robert Cartwright, a RIMS director and loss prevention manager for Bridgestone Americas Holding Inc. in Exton, Pa. That means underwriters have not been “highly motivated” to seek higher premiums, which he said is “good news for risk managers.”

But with forecasts of an active hurricane season, “large catastrophe losses could cause prices to increase across the board,” he said in the statement.

While positive for buyers, “insurance brokers are suffering from the double whammy of lower rates and reduced premium levels resulting from the lingering effects of the recession,” according to the statement.