Quoted home insurance prices surge a record 25.7% in a year

Average quoted premiums for buildings and contents policies stood at £212 last month. But this figure could be heading higher still, Consumer Intelligence believes, with quoted prices rising 9.9% in the three months to July – 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 quotes 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 our 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 West 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%. 

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. 

Ends 

  ¹   Index methodology: 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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