An industrywide snapshot of the annuity market showed sales that are still lagging from a record 2019. Sales of deferred annuities totaled $54.2 billion in the third quarter, an overall decline of 1.1% from the same period last year, but an 18% increase from the second quarter, according to Wink’s Sales & Market Report. Sales across nearly all annuity product types are still down by double-digit percentages from a year ago, said Sheryl Moore, president and CEO of Moore Market Intelligence and Wink Inc., which is based in Des Moines. The two exceptions to the trend are multiyear guaranteed annuity sales (MYGA) and structured annuity sales, which have both increased both year-over-year and consecutively. MYGA sales in the third quarter were $16.6 billion — up 32.9% from the previous quarter, and up 69.7% from the same period last year. MYGAs have a fixed rate that is guaranteed for more than one year. Among other categories, sales of indexed annuities, which make up one-quarter of deferred annuity sales, totaled $13.7 billion. That’s up 7.5% from the second quarter, and down 26.1% from last year’s third quarter. Noteworthy highlights for indexed annuities in the third quarter include Athene USA retaining the top sales ranking in indexed annuities, with a market share of 11%. Allianz Life remained in the second-ranked position, while Sammons Financial Cos., AIG, and Fidelity and Guaranty Life rounded out the top five carriers in the market, respectively. The quarterly report includes sales data from 62 indexed annuity providers, 47 fixed annuity providers, 69 multiyear guaranteed annuity providers, 13 structured annuity providers, and 46 variable annuity providers.