Home insurance: Compare & save

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• Do I need home and contents insurance?

  Your lender will usually require you to have home and contents insurance when you buy a home. Unlike car insurance though, it's not usually a legal requirement. However, it is the biggest asset that you own, so it's incredibly risky to go without it.

• How much does home and contents insurance cost?

  We gathered over 200 quotes from 16 different insurers and found that the average cost of home insurance in Australia is $160 a month. However, this is going to vary based on your own living situation.

  The cost of home insurance can depend on different factors including the following:

  • The value of your home and belongings. The more expensive, the higher your premiums are likely to be to cover the costs.
  • The area that you live in. Is your home in a bushfire-prone area or one where burglary is common? The higher the risk of damage or loss, the more expensive your home insurance will be.
  • The level of cover you purchased. Sum insured is usually cheaper than total replacement value because there's a chance you've undervalued your home. Similarly, a contents or home insurance only policy will be cheaper than a combined policy.

• How can I get cheaper home insurance?

  There are a few different ways. You could choose a higher excess. Paying for your premium annually, rather than monthly, you lower the cost of your policy (in some cases).

  Dropping your cover level could also reduce your upfront premium cost, but it can lead to underinsurance.

• Which home insurer is best?

  The best home insurance policy is the one that suits your specific needs. To help you decide, our home insurance experts analysed over 30 different benefits from insurers we work with and selected 5 different policies based on popularity, features and price. You can find out more on our best home insurance guide.

• Do I need home and contents insurance if I rent?

  No, you don't need building insurance since you don't own the property – in most cases, your strata insurance will cover you. However, it may be worth getting renters insurance. This can cover you for damage to your own possessions.

• Do I need home insurance if I live in an apartment?

  You shouldn't need building insurance if you live in an apartment because the strata fees you pay will cover you. However, you may still want to get contents insurance to cover damage to your items.

• How much home insurance do I need?

  During the quote process, most home insurers will ask you how much you want to insure your building for. This is often called the sum insured. To do this, you will need to estimate how much it would cost to rebuild your property if it was destroyed. The easiest way to do this is to use a building and contents calculator or use Honey Insurance which can calculate this figure for you.

• What does sum insured and total replacement cover mean?

  Sum insured is when you choose the maximum amount of cover you want for your home. For example, if you think your home will cost $1,500,000 to rebuild from scratch, this is the sum insured you'd select. On the other hand, total replacement insurance covers the market value of rebuilding your home.

  Sum insured is riskier (and usually cheaper) because there's a chance you won't value the home properly. For example, if your sum insured is $1,500,000 but your home ends up costing $1,800,000 to rebuild, you'll have to pay the $300,000 yourself. Find out more about total replacement cover in our full guide.

• Is flooding covered by home insurance?

  Most home insurers Finder works with automatically cover flood damage. However, it's an optional add-on with some brands such as Budget Direct and Qantas.

We updated this guide on 3 October 2023. We changed some headings in this guide to make it easier to read.