The latest price index found that the average quote price of home insurance rose by 6.7% in the past year, the highest annual increase since 2018.
According to market researcher Consumer Intelligence, the average quoted premiums for buildings and contents policies are at £162, but they could be heading higher. Research suggests quoted prices rising by 9.3% in the past three months, which makes it the second highest quarterly increase since tracking began in 2014.
London residents are still facing the highest quoted premiums at £217 for building and contents policies. North East is the cheapest region, with average quoted prices at £136.
Consumer Intelligence senior insight analyst Georgia Day said that the increased presence of lower-tiered “Essentials” products entering the market is very interesting given the significant inflation.
“The sharp increases in quoted premiums in the past three months point to continuing rising prices for the rest of the year as insurers keep pace with inflation in the wider economy,” Day said.
This study follows an earlier one in March from Consumer Intelligence that found a 6% rise in the average cost of home insurance in the UK in the last quarter.
The research found that quoted premiums have now risen by 12.2% since Consumer Intelligence first started keeping track in February 2014. Day attributes the market’s healthy competition as something that has kept the prices in check.
Londoners continue to face quoted prices higher than the national average by as much as a third. Southeast and Wales are the only two areas other than London that face the same dilemma.
The region that saw the biggest annual increases is Scotland, with quoted premiums at 12.1%, followed by Wales with rises of 11.5%. Conversely, London saw the lowest rise at 6.4%.
On a quarterly basis, Scotland and the East Midlands saw the biggest leaps in prices at 8.7% and 8.1%, respectively. The West Midlands had the lowest quarter-on-quarter increase at 4.2%.
The index found that older householders see slightly lower quotes for their home insurance, with the average for over-50s sitting at £159 compared to £164 for the under-50s. That said, the over-50s also saw the fastest rise in prices at 7.7%.
When it comes to the age of the properties themselves, older properties continue to attract the highest quoted premiums. Victorian-era homes built between 1850 and 1895 are seeing average quoted costs of £225 for joint home and contents policies. On the other hand, quoted premiums for homes built since 2000 were the lowest at £150.
The same Victorian-era homes also had the biggest annual rise as well, with domiciles built between 1850 and 1895 at 11%.
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