Income annuities saw record-high sales of about $2.4 billion in the third quarter, an increase of 3.8% over the previous quarter and 6.7% from the third quarter of 2011, according to Beacon Research and Morningstar. Sales of indexed annuities remained relatively steady for the third quarter, while variable-annuity sales fell 4.9% from the previous quarter and 7.2% year-over-year, data show. Net third-quarter sales of variable annuities, however, were up 44.3% from the second quarter, and net assets of the products reached a record $1.62 trillion in the third quarter.