General Insurance Article - Unsurprisingly home insurance costs more with children

 Its unique analysis of more than 27,000 insurance quotes shows the cost of having any children adds £35 a year – or 27% - to the average annual home insurance bill including contents and buildings cover.

 The average household without any children in it pays £126 a year but that rises to £161 for quotes on homes with any children, Consumer Intelligence’s data shows.

 And, of course, the more children you have the more the home insurance bill rises – families with three children living at home pay an extra £69 a year for a total bill of £195. Anyone wanting to keep their home insurance bill down should stick with one child – the extra cost is just £18.

 Average home insurance costs are now falling and have dropped 2.6% in the past six months as competition across the market has intensified and the effects of Insurance Premium Tax increases have faded.

 In fact, customers are now paying around 3.1% less for home insurance than in February 2014 when Consumer Intelligence - whose data is used by the Government’s Office for National Statistics to calculate official inflation statistics – first began collecting figures.

 Competition among insurers is likely to keep premiums down unless there are major claims such as from subsidence caused by the recent heatwave.

 John Blevins, Consumer Intelligence pricing expert said: “It is a price worth paying but having children will increase your home insurance bill by more than a quarter and the more children you have the more the bill rises.

 “Clearly having more people in a house increases the risk of accidental damage and insurers have to price for that risk. Bigger houses to accommodate a growing family also add to the home insurance bill.

 “The good news for all home insurance customers is that average annual bills are falling and unless there are major claims then they are likely to remain low for the foreseeable future. But if you are starting a family then your bill will go up.”