Rapidly growing Honey Insurance (Honey), Australia's first smart home insurance provider, has celebrated its first anniversary by entering the Western Australian (WA) market.
In its recent research report with YouGov, Honey found that in the last 12 months, Australians with home building insurance have been $1000 out of pocket on average for claims, with 67% of the respondents believing that some of these claims would have been avoidable if they had precautions in place.
As a result, Honey teamed up with BGC Housing Group (BGC), the largest homebuilder in WA, as part of its plan to expand into the state and modernise homeowners' home insurance purchase experience by offering an Australian-first smart home insurance solution.
Honey founder and CEO Richard Joffe said the partnership resulted from the companies' shared customer-first ethos of the home-buying process.
“Where BGC Housing Group's vision is to create more opportunities for Western Australians to build and own their own homes, Honey offers a proactive arm that delivers tech-driven home insurance coverage directly into the digital mortgage and title process. Not only do these homes get built, but [also] the process to begin protecting the most valuable asset most Australians will ever buy is intuitive and fast,” Joffe said.
Michael Bartier, executive general manager of BGC Housing Group, echoed Joffe's comments, emphasising the significance of home insurance.
“BGC Housing Group is leading the way in affordable and sustainable homes as WA's largest builder,” he said. “As we continue to make homeownership a reality for more West Australians, it is more important than ever that homeowners take out home and contents insurance to feel safe in their newly built home. We are proud to partner with Honey Insurance to offer our clients a home insurance policy to protect their largest financial asset.”
The agreement with BGC is Honey's sixth partnership in 12 months, enabling the insurer to deliver on its commitment to changing home insurance in Australia by making it more intuitive and using technology to help customers protect their homes. It follows the insurer's deal with the Bank of Queensland (BOQ), which made it the first bank in Australia to offer smart home sensors to households.
