· Quoted premiums are down 2.7% in the past 12 months and by 2.8% in the past three months
· Homeowners most commonly quoted premiums between £150 and £199 but insurers are targeting safer risks
Cuts to average quoted price of home insurance are accelerating dropping 2.7% in the past 12 months and 2.8% in the past three months, according to the latest Consumer Intelligence Home Insurance Price Index¹.
But homeowners in the South West and Scotland have still seen price rises in the past 12 months of 3.6% and 0.2% respectively while quoted premiums have risen by 0.3% for the over-50s over the same period.
Premiums have most commonly been quoted between £150 and £199, with 27% of quotes falling within that range, according to Consumer Intelligence’s data.
“There is evidence that insurers are targeting traditionally safer risks. Larger properties, and those with high contents values are not seeing the same premium decreases as their counterparts, “said Matthew McMaster, Senior Insight Analyst at Consumer Intelligence.
“February and March in particular saw several notable brands cut premiums substantially. Seven of the ten most recognised home brands dropped prices the first quarter with two cutting premiums by nearly 10%,” he adds.
Long term view
Overall, quoted premiums have risen by 60.4% since Consumer Intelligence first started collecting data in February 2014.
Regional trends
The biggest fall in quoted premiums in the past year was in the West Midlands which recorded an 8.4% drop and the biggest fall over the past three months was 4.5% in Wales.
The South West is the only region to see increases over the past 12 months and past three months at 3.6% and 2.3% respectively. Quoted premiums rose marginally in Scotland in the past year at 0.2% but fell 3.2% in the past three months.
Age differences
Quoted premiums for under-50s households have fallen 5.2% in the past 12 months compared with a 0.3% increase for the over-50s.
The under-50s have seen bigger drops in quoted premiums over the past three months at 3.2% compared with 2.5% for the over-50s.
Property age
Quoted premiums for properties of all ages have fallen over the past year and past three months apart from those built between 1850 and 1895 which saw increases of 2.1% in the past 12 months and 1.2% in the past three months.
Prices fell fastest for properties built between 1970 and 1985 in the past 12 months at 4.6% and dropped the most in the past three months by 4.4% for properties built between 1895 and 1910.
Region |
Price Index Last Year (March 24 – March 25) | Price Index Last 3 months (Dec 24 – March 25) |
| South West | +3.6% | +2.3% |
| Scotland | +0.2% | -3.2% |
| South East | -0.7% | -3.4% |
| London | -1.9% | -2.6% |
| Eastern | -2.7% | -3.3% |
| Yorkshire & The Humber | -2.9% | -2.4% |
| North West | -3.4% | -2.6% |
| East Midlands | -4.2% | -4.0% |
| Wales | -4.4% | -4.5% |
| North East | -5.8% | -4.0% |
| West Midlands | -8.4% | -3.7% |
Data from the Consumer Intelligence Home Insurance Price Index is used by the Office for National Statistics, regulators, and insurance providers as the definitive benchmark of how price is changing for consumers.
For each risk, common to consecutive months, the variation is calculated from the average of the five cheapest premiums returned on each PCW in the previous month to the average of the Top Five in the current month regardless of which brands provided these quotes. The exercise is repeated on each PCW for each common risk. The Overall Market Top Five monthly variation is calculated by averaging across all these risk level Top Five variations for common risks run in both months. The monthly figures are concatenated up to produce the trended price index from a starting point of 100% in the base month.
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