Home Insurance Premiums Are on The Rise

Some premium rates research from Consumer Intelligence;

The average quoted price of home insurance rose by 25.7% in the past year – the highest annual increase on record, the latest Consumer Intelligence Home Insurance Price Index shows.

Average quoted premiums for buildings and contents policies are currently £212 but could be heading higher still Consumer Intelligence believes, with quoted prices rising 9.9% in the past three months – the highest quarterly increase since it started tracking in 2014. Londoners continue to face the highest quoted premiums at £316 for building and contents policies, with the North East the cheapest region with average quoted prices of £184.

“This is the first time that 12-month inflation has broken into double digits and much of the inflation has happened this year with quoted premiums up 23.3% year to date,” says Georgia Day, Senior Insight Analyst at Consumer Intelligence. People who have made claims are likely to feel the pinch even more as out data shows the highest increases for customers who have made an Escape of Water claim which is one of the most common claims in the home insurance market according to Go.Compare,” Day adds.

Long-term view

Overall, quoted premiums have now risen by 31.1% since Consumer Intelligence first started collecting data in February 2014.

“Many customers will be feeling the pinch in their household budgets against a backdrop of the rising cost of living,” says Day.

Into the regions

Londoners face quoted prices 49% higher than the UK average to insure their property and contents. The South East is the only other region to see quoted prices above the UK average at £227. Homeowners in Scotland have seen the biggest annual increases to quoted premiums at 12.1%, followed by Welsh customers with rises of 11.5%. Londoners saw the lowest rise in quoted prices at 6.4%.

All regions have seen annual increases in premiums of more than 20% ranging from the Wests Midlands at 22.2% to the South East at 28.4%. Over the past three months quoted premium rises range from 8.7% in the East Midlands to 11.5% in the South East.

Age differences

Older householders see lower quotes for their home insurance with the average quoted premiums for over-50s at £199compared with £222 for the under-50s. Quoted prices rose slightly faster for the under 50s in the past 12 months at 26.3% compared with 25.0% for the over-50s.

Property age

Older properties continue to attract the highest quoted premiums with Victorian-era homes built between 1850 and 1895 seeing average quoted costs of £279 for joint home and contents policies. Quoted premiums for homes built between 1940 and 1955 are the lowest at £194 marginally cheaper than houses built between 1985 and 2000 at £197 and those built since 2000 at £198.

Quoted prices rose across the board for properties of all ages in the past 12 months with the lowest increases for those built between 1940 and 1955 and those built between 1955 and 1970 at 24.2%. The largest annual increases were for homes built between 1910 and 1925 at 28.3%.