Home insurance comparison

What is home and contents insurance?

Your home is likely to be the most expensive thing you own, so it's worth protecting. If it gets damaged by fire, flood, burst pipes or a storm, you'll be patting yourself on the back for organising home insurance. Here's a little bit about what it can cover:

• Fire, storm and theft damage
• Flood - this is often an optional extra, it isn't included as standard in all policies
• Accidental damage
• Escape of liquid (like a burst pipe)
• Malicious damage (like vandalism)

If any of these events occur (plus some others), then you can be compensated for both the expense to repair your home and the expenses you incur while having to live outside of your home.

What are the different types of home insurance?

There are four main types of home insurance:

Building insurance

This is straight up home insurance. It includes cover for the home, so the actual building, only.

Contents insurance

This insures the belongings inside your home. So if you've got an expensive TV, oven etc — these can be covered by contents insurance.

Home and contents insurance

As the name implies, this is a combination of the two. This means your home building and your contents are insured.

Landlord insurance

This can include building insurance and/or contents insurance, based on what you need as a landlord. It's designed to protect your investment home while others are renting it.

Here's what some of our experts have to say...

Our expert says

"The best way to save money on your home insurance bill is to compare policies every time you go to renew. Sometimes, this doesn't even mean switching! It can be as simple as being informed about other prices so you can negotiate with your current insurer. I did this with my most recent home insurance bill and saved $200."

Peta Taylor

Publisher of Insurance

Our expert says

"Every insurer prices its risk in really different ways, which means you could get two very different quotes on the exact same house and same policy holder. That's why you're almost always going to pay over the offs if you don't shop around regularly. Call your insurer and ask for a better deal and if they can't do anything, do a quick comparison – for 60 minutes of your time, you could save hundreds or even thousands of dollars."

Sarah Megginson

Money expert + media spokesperson

How to find cheaper home insurance

Home insurance premiums are getting more and more expensive so it's critical to ensure you're not paying more than you need to. Here's a few tips to get your home insurance bill down a bit lower:

• Compare your options. The best way to cut your bill down is to compare your options. Often, insurers will increase your premium every year because they're assuming you'll let it auto renew and won't question the increase. Loyalty does not pay and there's almost always money to save by switching.
• Call your insurer. Often, your insurer is more interested in keeping you as a customer than watching you go elsewhere, so if you call and ask if they can reduce your premium, they'll likely do this. I called my insurer when my home insurance was up for renewal and said "Is there any flexibility on the price?" and they immediately dropped it by $200.
• Use sign up discounts. Sign up discounts can save you hundreds simply for being a new customer and signing up online. It's a great way to save! Hot tip: look for percentage discounts rather than a dollar figure discount. 15% off is almost always going to be better for you than $50 off.
• Increase your excess. The higher your excess, the lower your premium. However, your excess needs to remain affordable for you in the event that you have to make a claim, so do this responsibly.
• Review your policy inclusions. If you're looking to save, it can be worthwhile looking at your policy and seeing if you've got any unnecessary inclusions that are driving your premium up. I once had an insurer tell me that I needed flood cover, but I live on a hill. A really big hill.

How Donna and Kevin saved by switching

"When my husband and I turned 60 and became semi-retired, we wanted to put a stop to unnecessary bills so we could spend time enjoying our retirement. When we received our home insurance renewal bill (from a company we'd been with for 5 years), I was blown away to learn that they were increasing my premium by a whopping 60%. I compared my options and ended up going with another provider. Even with added benefits, we still saved over $700 a year by switching!"

Donna and Kevin Field

NSW-based homeowners

FAQs

• Do I need home and contents insurance?

  Some mortgage lenders will require you to have home insurance when you buy a home to ensure that they get paid, even in the event of a disaster. Outside of this though, there's no legal requirement to have home insurance, it's just wise. It's probably your biggest asset. If you can't afford to lose it, insure it.

• How much does home insurance cost?

  Our latest research from November 2024 shows that the average home and contents insurance policy costs around $2,800. Of course, your own quote will differ as it's heavily dependent on the rebuild cost of your home and the value of your contents.

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

  If you rent, you should consider contents insurance only, you won't need building insurance (that's your landlord's job). Contents insurance can protect your belongings so it's worth considering if you have anything of particular value.

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

  You shouldn't need home (building) insurance because your strata fees will cover that but you may like to consider contents insurance to protect your belongings.

• How do I calculate how much home insurance I need?

  For building insurance, you'll need to know a rough estimate of what it'd cost to rebuild your home. This is not the value of your home as that's different and depends on the housing market. This is the cost of materials and labour to rebuild your home. Unfortunately, there's no real way to calculate this with certainty. It could help to look at home building costs for similar properties in your area.

  Additionally, if you're getting contents insurance then you'll need to know the value of the items you're insuring so you can ensure your sum insured is enough.

• Is flooding covered by home insurance?

  It can be. For many policies, it's an optional extra - it's not always included as standard.

To make sure you get accurate and helpful information, this guide has been edited by Angus Kidman as part of our fact-checking process.

Written by

Peta Taylor

Publisher of Insurance

Peta Taylor is a publisher at Finder, working across all of insurance. She's been analysing product disclosure statements and publishing articles for over 2 years. Peta is passionate about demystifying complex insurance products to help users make well educated decisions with confidence. Peta is part of Finder's insurance awards team and works alongside editorial and insights experts to bring users the best insurance products every year. See full bio

Co-written by

Gary Ross Hunter

Journalist

Gary Ross Hunter has over 6 years of expertise writing about insurance, including life, health, home, and car insurance. Having reviewed hundreds of product disclosure statements and published over 800 articles, he loves simplifying complex insurance topics for everyday readers. Gary has contributed to major outlets like Yahoo Finance, The Sydney Morning Herald, and news.com.au, and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature from the University of Glasgow, along with a Tier 2 General Advice certification, ensuring his work adheres to ASIC’s RG146 standards. See full bio

Gary Ross's expertise

Gary Ross has written 570 Finder guides across topics including:

• Health, home, life, car, pet and travel insurance
• Managing the cost of living