Total third-quarter sales of indexed annuities reached $8.7 billion, a 5 percent increase from the previous quarter and down less than 1 percent from the year-ago period, according to the AnnuitySpecs.com’s Indexed Sales & Market Report. The report measures sales for 41 indexed annuity carriers representing 99 percent of indexed annuity sales. In the indexed life insurance market, third-quarter sales were $251.1 million for the 37 companies tracked, an increase of nearly 20 percent from the previous quarter and more than 51 percent higher than third-quarter 2010 sales. Contributing to the significant sales increase were seven additional insurers that have entered the indexed life market in the past four months, said Sheryl Moore, president and CEO of Pleasant Hill-based AnnuitySpecs.com. Moore said she expects the number of insurers offering indexed life products to increase “exponentially” in the coming year.