The average cost of the best home insurance deals has fallen by 7.9% in the past six months to £136. However the latest Consumer Intelligence Home Insurance Price Index says premiums from the most competitive providers may be about to increase again.
“We’re beginning to see prices rise in the competitive end of the market. Insurers like the popular app-based Getsafe, which had been driving prices down all summer, increased their premiums in October,” says Harriet Devonald, product manager at Consumer Intelligence.
The index, which tracks the average premiums of the five most competitive home and contents policies available, shows premiums among the most competitive providers are still up 4.1% over a 12-month period. Much of the earlier rises were linked to the Financial Conduct Authority’s ban on “price walking”, which came into force in January 2022 and initially led to higher premiums for both new customers and renewals.
London postcodes continue to dominate the most expensive areas for home insurance with Londoners paying on average £185 for an annual buildings and contents policy. The next most expensive area is the South East (£141), while the cheapest regions are the North East (£122), East Midlands (£125) and the West Midlands (£128).
Long-term view
Overall, premiums have now fallen by 3.1% since Consumer Intelligence first started collecting data in February 2014.
“Home insurance is usually a very competitive marketplace, which helps to keep overall pricing down,” says Devonald.
Into the regions
All UK households have seen their home insurance increase when looked at over the last 12 months. The biggest yearly gains were recorded in the North East (6.7%), Wales (5.1%) and the East Midlands (5.0%).
More recently, it’s only London where premiums are still rising – up 0.6% in the last three months. All other UK regions are now in reverse, with the biggest three-month fallers being the West Midlands (-4.4%) and the South West (-3.9%).
Age differences
The age of a person now makes little difference to the cost of home insurance. Just a fiver separates the annual cost of home insurance for the under-50s (£138) and the over-50s (£133).
The over-50s however saw their insurance costs increase the most over the last 12 months at 7.0% – which was at a faster rate than the under-50s, who saw prices rise just 2.0% over the same period.
Property age
Newer-build properties (those built since 2000) remain the cheapest to insure – at £124 for an annual policy. Older homes continue to be the most expensive to insure, with Victorian-era homes built between 1850 and 1895 attracting the highest home insurance costs of £166.
The only property age grouping to see cheaper premiums in the last 12 months – albeit with prices falling just 0.6% – was for 1910-1925 built properties. Whereas over the same period, properties built from 1850-1895 and those erected from 1950-1975 saw the biggest rises – at 6.3% and 5.9% respectively.
The Consumer Intelligence Home Insurance Price Index is compiled using real customer quotes from price comparison websites (PCWs) and key direct providers. The data is used by the Office for National Statistics, regulators, and insurance providers as the definitive benchmark of how price is changing for consumers.
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