Home insurance premiums have fallen by nearly 10% over the past year, but the pace of decline is easing, according to the latest Home Insurance Price Index from Consumer Intelligence.
Average quoted premiums decreased by 9.7% over the past 12 months, with the average Rank 1–5 new business quoted premium on price comparison websites (PCWs) standing at £254 in March 2026, down from £296 in March 2025.
However, in the most recent quarter premiums fell by just 0.3%, a notable slowdown compared to the 1.0% quarterly decline recorded in Q4 2025, and significantly less than the 4.8% drop seen in Q3 2025. This signals a potential halt to the downward trajectory that has characterised the market over the past year.
"Home insurance premiums have now been falling for over a year, offering some welcome relief for homeowners. However, with inflation returning to the UK economy amid ongoing global uncertainty, the conditions that supported this prolonged period of deflation may not persist. If broader cost pressures begin feeding through into claims and repair costs, we could see this trend reverse later in the year," said Laura Vas, Senior Insight Analyst at Consumer Intelligence.
Every region records annual falls, but Scotland bucks the recent trend
All British regions recorded year-on-year declines. Eastern England and the East Midlands saw the largest annual decreases at -12.0% and -11.6% respectively, while Scotland recorded the smallest reduction at -4.6%.
In the most recent quarter, seven of eleven regions experienced deflation, led by the East Midlands (-2.2%) and Eastern England (-1.5%). Three regions saw premium increases, most notably Scotland (+4.0%), followed by the South West (+0.8%) and Wales (+0.6%). London remained broadly stable at +0.5%.
London continues to have the highest average Rank 1–5 quoted premium at £397, while Yorkshire and the Humber now has the lowest at £211.
"Scotland's quarterly rise was driven by a large market share insurer implementing significant price increases across the segment, reducing the competitive positioning of two products in their portfolio and allowing higher prices to occupy the top positions. So far in April we have seen this begin to partially reverse, potentially signalling a poor forecast or trading decision. It highlights just how sensitive the best available prices can be to the actions of a single insurer in a highly competitive market," said Vas.
Annual declines broadly consistent across age groups
Annual deflation has been largely consistent across demographics, with under-50s seeing a 9.4% decrease in premiums over the past year and over-50s experiencing a slightly larger reduction of 10.0%.
In the most recent quarter, premiums were broadly stable across both groups, reflecting a wider market slowdown in the rate of deflation.
Older properties remain the most expensive to insure
Properties of all ages have seen annual falls in premiums. Homes built between 1910 and 1925 saw the smallest reduction at -7.5%, while properties built between 1895 and 1910 recorded the largest annual decrease at -11.3%. All other property age bands experienced double-digit declines.
In the latest quarter, newer properties built post-2000 saw a reversal in trend, with premiums increasing by 2.6% following a sharper fall of 4.7% in the previous quarter. Most other property age groups continued to see quarterly declines.
Older homes remain the most expensive to insure. Properties built between 1850 and 1895 carry average Rank 1–5 quoted premiums of £505, while homes built between 1970 and 1985 are currently the cheapest to insure at £206.
Premiums remain significantly higher than a decade ago
Despite recent falls, home insurance premiums have increased by 44.8% since Consumer Intelligence began tracking the market in February 2014. Premiums remained broadly stable for much of the period between 2014 and 2022 before a sharp acceleration driven by the introduction of the FCA's General Insurance Pricing Practice regulation, which prohibited price walking and led to a significant repricing of the market.
Premiums peaked in mid-2024 before beginning to fall back, driven by a combination of market adjustment and the launch of lighter-tier products as providers competed for top-of-screen positions on price comparison websites in the post-GIPP landscape.
The independent authoritative source of price movements in the home insurance market, using real customer quotes from PCWs and key direct brands.
¹ 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.