Average quoted premiums for buildings and contents policies are expected to soar even higher as damage from Storms Babet and Ciara is likely to mean further quoted price rises.
The average of the five cheapest quotes for a buildings and contents policy now stands at £227 compared with £163 in October 2022. However, in October 2023, premiums have most commonly been quoted between £150 and £199, with 31% of quotes falling within the range.
In October 2022, 83% of consumers received at least one buildings and contents insurance premium below £150 within the top five quotes on the price comparison websites. Twelve months later, only 41% of consumers were able to source quoted premiums below this threshold.
Consumer Intelligence’s data, in three months to October, has shown a slowdown in quoted price rises - 8.5% compared with the record 9.9% in the previous three months - but insurers are now likely to look to recover the cost of claims from the recent storms.
In the 12 months to October, customers claiming for water related damage have seen quoted price rises of 42.8% while those with buildings claims have seen increases of 40.7%, and those with damage related claims 39.5%. By comparison those with no claims have seen increases of 35.7% and those making theft related claims increases of 33.9%
Londoners continue to face the highest quoted premiums for building and contents policies, with the North East the cheapest region.
“With Storms Babet and Ciaran causing significant damage to thousands of homes across Britain, we anticipate further increases in premiums over the coming months.
“Homeowners with prior claims may see additional increases in coming months following recent storm damage, although insurers could spread the claim costs across all policy holders driving further market inflation,” says Laura Vas, Senior Insight Analyst at Consumer Intelligence.
Long-term view
Overall, quoted premiums have now risen by 42.2% since Consumer Intelligence first started collecting data in February 2014. Around 33.8% of the total increase has happened in 2023.
Into the regions
Quoted prices for Londoners to insure their property and contents are 36% higher than the UK average. By comparison, quoted premiums in the North East, the least expensive UK region, are 20% lower than the UK average for an annual home and contents insurance policy.?
All regions have seen increases in quoted premiums over the past 12 months of more than 30% ranging from the North East at 32.1% to the South East at 38.5%.
Increases in quoted prices over the past three months range from 6.8% in the North East to 9.5% in Yorkshire and The Humber with the Eastern region and the West Midlands experiencing the second highest increases at 9.1%.
Age differences
Under-50s households continue to see slightly higher quotes for their home insurance, compared to the over-50s.
However over-50s have seen slightly higher rises in quoted premiums over the past three months at 9.3% compared with 8% for the under-50s while quoted premium rises over the past 12 months have been broadly similar at 36.2% for the under-50s and 36% for the over-50s.
Property age
Victorian-era properties built between 1850-1895 attract the highest average quoted premiums. Quoted premiums are 21% higher than the next highest for houses built between 1910 and 1925.
The lowest quoted premiums are for homes built this century, just marginally less than quoted for houses built between 1940 and 1955. Quoted prices rose by more than 33% for properties of all ages in the past 12 months with the lowest increases for those built since 2000 at 33.9%. The largest annual increases were for homes built between 1925 and 1940 at 39.3%.
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.
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