Two-storey brick and weatherboard house, a mixed-construction home whose rebuild cost drives its home insurance premium

Home Insurance Cost

Real premiums from recent Tank placements and quotes, from contents-only cover at around $900 to a company-title building written as an ISR, and the six things that moved each number.

$2.4-9K

Placed premiums, $500K to $1.7M homes

~$900

Contents only, $80K

~$19K

Company-title building written as an ISR

Recognition

THE SHORT ANSWER

On recent Tank placements and quotes, home and contents insurance for owner-occupied houses insured from around $500,000 to $1.7 million landed between approximately $2,400 and $9,000 a year, with contents-only cover around $900 for $80,000 and a company-title building written as an ISR at approximately $19,300. What was happening at the property moved the figure more than the sum insured did: a $1 million house placed at approximately $3,800 with nothing planned and at approximately $7,100 with renovations declared. Your house will be rated on its own details.

The sum insured sets the base. What is happening at the property, the construction and age, the protections, the excess and the address explain the rest of the spread. The table shows real placements, anonymised, so you can benchmark your own house against something like it, and the column on the right says what moved each figure.

REAL PLACEMENTS

What Houses Actually Cost to Insure

Recent Tank placements, anonymised, with gross premiums rounded and shown as approximate annual figures. BSI = building sum insured. These are historical placements at a point in time, not a guide to future pricing or turnaround. Your house will be rated on its own details.

Property	Location	Annual premium	What moved it
Contents only, $80K including a specified ring, 1950s fibro house with asbestos, rewired	Northern beaches, Sydney	around $900	Older construction and asbestos declared; rewiring disclosed; three markets quoted
House and contents, BSI $1.21M, contents $162K, $1,000 building excess	Outer-east Melbourne	approximately $3,300	Five markets quoted from around $3,000 to $4,700 on the same house
Dual occupancy with subdivision in progress, building only, $500K each dwelling	Regional NSW	approximately $3,700	Two markets declined on the subdivision; excess options at $1,500 and $2,000 brought it to around $3,400 and $3,100
House and contents, BSI $1.1M, contents $70K, pool, large solar array	North-west Sydney	approximately $3,800	Four markets quoted; highest was around $7,900 for the same house
New build held in a family trust, BSI $1M, monitored alarm and CCTV, $10,000 excess	South-east Melbourne	approximately $2,400 per dwelling	Three dwellings on one title placed as three policies; the excess and the protections did most of the work
House and contents, BSI $1M, contents $100K, renovations planned	Northern beaches, Sydney	approximately $7,100	Three markets declined on the upcoming renovations and one on location; two quoted
New two-dwelling build, BSI $1.7M, building only, unoccupied after handover	NSW south coast	approximately $9,000	Four markets declined on unoccupancy; placed for the lender with a plan to split on subdivision
Small company-title building of owner-occupied units, period construction	Eastern suburbs, Sydney	approximately $19,300	Written as an ISR rather than a home policy after the previous insurer declined at renewal; two markets declined on sum insured

Read the spread before assuming a renewal is the market rate. Two houses insured for a similar figure landed at approximately $3,300 and $7,100, and the difference was renovations planned at one of them. On the outer-east Melbourne house, five markets quoted between around $3,000 and $4,700 for the same building and contents. The same house can sit inside one insurer's appetite and outside the next, which is why the premium is tested across markets rather than taken from the first quote.

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PRICING FACTORS

What Moves a Home Insurance Premium

Six factors explain most of the spread in the table. Here's what pushes a premium up or down.

Building Sum Insured

The rebuild cost of the house, on a replacement basis, is the single biggest input, and it is not the market value. Land is not insured. A $2 million house on a $1.4 million block might carry a $700,000 rebuild; a modest house on a steep block with a pool and retaining walls can carry more than its price suggests. Get the figure from a rebuild estimate, not the purchase contract. For working out the contents figure itself, see <a href='/blog/calculate-home-and-contents-insurance/' class='text-emerald-600 underline font-medium'>how to calculate home and contents sums insured</a>.

Occupancy and What Is Going On at the Property

Owner-occupied, empty between handover and move-in, a second dwelling with family or a tenant in it, a subdivision half done, work booked for next year. Each is rated on its own, and on recent placements unoccupancy and planned renovations were the two reasons markets declined outright rather than priced up.

Construction and Age

Brick or masonry rates differently to weatherboard or fibro, slate and heritage detail push the rebuild cost, and a house that has never been rewired or replumbed carries a higher chance of fire or burst pipes. Asbestos does not stop a placement but it has to be declared. Dated rewiring and replumbing move an older house from a referral to an approval.

Protection and Security

Monitored alarms, CCTV, deadlocks, key-operated window locks and smoke alarms all count, and on higher sums insured they can be a condition of cover rather than a discount. The trust-owned new builds in the table carried monitored alarms and CCTV and were rated accordingly.

Excess

A higher excess lowers the premium because you carry the first part of every claim. On the regional NSW dual occupancy, moving from a $1,000 to a $2,000 excess took the premium from around $3,700 to around $3,100. On the trust-owned builds a $10,000 excess was the owner's choice and the price reflected it.

Location

Address-level flood, bushfire, storm and cyclone ratings, distance from a fire station in regional areas, and the postcode's theft experience all sit in the rate. One market declined the northern beaches house on location alone while another quoted it.

The practical point: a broker is not the cheap route for a standard house, and the direct insurers price that house well. Where the spread opens up is a second dwelling, an empty house, a subdivision, renovations, a rebuild cost above about a million or a trust on the title. Those situations each have their own page: owner-occupied dual occupancy, unoccupied new build, renovations planned and high-value home.

COST FAQS

Common Questions About Home Insurance Cost

01 How much does home insurance cost in Australia for a house insured around $1 million?

On recent Tank placements, houses with a building sum insured between $1 million and $1.21 million, with contents, landed between approximately $3,300 and $7,100 a year. The low end was a standard owner-occupied house in Melbourne's outer east with five markets quoting; the high end was a northern beaches house with renovations planned, where three markets declined and two quoted. Same rough sum insured, twice the premium, and the difference was what was happening at the property, not the house itself.

02 Why is home insurance more expensive when the house is empty?

An unoccupied house has nobody to notice a burst pipe, a break-in or a fire starting, so the expected claim is larger and the insurers that will write it are fewer. On a recent new build on the NSW south coast, four markets declined on unoccupancy alone and the one that quoted did so at approximately $9,000 on a $1.7 million rebuild, building only. An unoccupancy condition, typically triggered after 60 or 90 days, is common on home products, so a house you have moved out of needs the insurer told even if the policy is already in place.

03 Does insuring the house through a trust or company cost more?

Generally not. The house is rated, not the owner. The three trust-owned new builds in the table were placed at approximately $2,400 each on $1 million sums insured, which reflects new construction, monitored alarms, CCTV and a $10,000 excess rather than the trust. What the structure changes is the insured name on the policy and the certificate, and the fact that insurers still rate on a director's or trustee's date of birth.

04 Is the cheapest quote the one to take?

Only if the sum insured is right and the policy describes the house as it stands. On the same house recent placements drew quotes up to roughly two to one apart. The cheaper quote is not automatically the wrong one, but it needs the same checks as any other, and it is often just the market that specialises in that situation. What we check before recommending the lowest figure is the sum insured, the excess, the unoccupancy and renovation conditions, and whether contents, the pool and any outbuildings are actually inside the wording.

05 How much does contents-only insurance cost?

A recent contents-only placement of $80,000, including a specified engagement ring, in a 1950s fibro house on Sydney's northern beaches came in at around $900 a year after three markets quoted. Contents on its own is common for renters and for owners whose building is insured elsewhere. Specified items, the construction of the house the contents sit in, and the security in place move the figure.

06 How do I get an accurate home insurance quote?

Have the basics ready: address, year built, construction of walls, roof and floors, bedrooms and bathrooms, garage, pool and solar, rewiring and replumbing dates, the protections in place, a rebuild estimate, a contents figure if you want contents, any planned work, claims in the last five years, the lender's exact name and the date cover needs to start. With that in hand we can usually come back with terms in 48 to 72 hours, and in as little as 24 hours for a straightforward risk.