Consumer Intelligence: Home insurance premiums drop 5.6% - Mortgage Introducer

Img

However, the company said it expects premiums to begin to rise as the country begins to fully reopen, but not as much as some may expect.

The research also shows that younger residents continue to pay slightly more for their home insurance.

An under-50s homeowner typically pays £151 for an annual buildings and contents policy, while the over-50s pay £134 for similar insurance.

London (£202) continued to dominate the list of locations where residents pay the most for their home insurance. The South East (£154) and Yorkshire and the Humber (£150) were the only two other regions where an annual policy is more than the national average of £144.

The North East (£113) remains the cheapest region, with the East Midlands (£124) and the South West (£130) following closely behind.

Across-the-board reductions continued in all regions; the biggest yearly falls were in Yorkshire and the Humber (-7.9%) and the South East (-6.8%).

Homeowners in Wales (-3.2%) and the East Midlands (-3.7%) saw the smallest reductions to their home insurance.

When looked at over a shorter time frame, premiums are still falling fast in some regions – Yorkshire and the Humber (-3.6%), the West Midlands (-2.9%) and the North West (-2.6%) all saw large declines in the last three months.

Older homes continue to attract higher insurance premiums, reflecting the higher cost of claims made by their owners – with roofing, plumbing, and wiring in these properties more likely to develop faults, and with replacement materials expensive to source.

Homes built in the 19th century, our oldest segment – Victorian era properties built between 1850 and 1895 – typically attract premiums of £169 for an annual policy. While properties erected this century are the cheapest to insure at £133.

Meanwhile, the segments with the biggest reductions to their premiums in the last 12 months have been to properties built between 1940 and 1955 (-7.4%) and for those built from 1910 and 1925 (-7.0%). Again, across-the-board reductions were seen in all our age segments.

Harriet Devonald, product manager at Consumer Intelligence, said: “The home market is already a very competitive space which keeps premium increases largely at bay.”