Our guide explains everything you need to know to get the best policy at the lowest price.

Many homeowners in certain parts of New Zealand have seen significant changes in their house insurance policies. While both Earthquake Commission (EQC) and Fire Service levies have increased, this is not causing reported cases of policy costs doubling. The reason is primarily the risk of earthquakes. Tower Insurance and AIG (which owns AMI, NZI and State) introduced 'full risk-based pricing' in mid-2018. This means that insurers now don't 'share' the risk with less-risky policyholders. Instead, if you own a house in an area with a higher risk of earthquakes, you will pay more for insurance.

If you are in Christchurch, Kaikoura or Wellington, this may mean insurance is more difficult to obtain and expensive, as outlined by our sample quotes guide and media reports.

Disclaimer: Specific House Insurance policies and their terms and conditions differ between insurers. We make no representation that the quotes below imply that the policies are the same in form and substance. Please review policies in detail before making any decision.

We've compared house insurance policies side-by-side to make it easier to see where you're covered, and where you're not. Download our comparison table in PDF or JPEG format. 

Disclaimer: This policy comparison is not intended to be financial or insurance advice. It is a summary of the various policy terms of coverage only. For full details of policy coverage, terms, benefits and exclusions please refer to the specifc policy wording document.

There is no average price; every home is different. Throughout New Zealand, insurers vary their quotes based on the size of the home, location, age of home, materials used to build the home, section angle and many other factors. The best way to find the best house insurance deal is to review our house insurance quote comparison and get your own quote directly with the insurers. 

Our review of house insurance quotes outlines the most common policies available in New Zealand, and sample costs.

House insurance covers the cost of rebuilding or repairing your home if it is damaged or destroyed. External garages, garden sheds and fences are also covered, as is the cost of replacing things like pipes, cables and drains. The costs of demolition, site clearance, and architects' fees are also covered by house insurance.

Commonly throughout New Zealand, most people need to claim on their house insurance when there is loss or damage caused by:

• An earthquake
• A fire
• A flood
• Vandalism
• Theft causing property damage (i.e. broken windows)
• Frozen and burst pipes
• Fallen trees
• Land subsidence (i.e. sea-facing properties)

You need enough cover to pay for a complete rebuild. If disaster strikes and you don't have enough cover, you will have to pay for the difference between the cover and total rebuild cost yourself. Our House insurance calculator guide outlines exactly what you need to know to get an appropriate level of cover.

No, unless you have a mortgage over your home (see below). House insurance is however recommended given the number of natural disasters that put New Zealand under threat, as well as the risk of fire or flooding. Because a home is likely to be most New Zealand's biggest asset, spending $700 to $1,500 a year protecting it should be a priority.

No - but many banks and mortgage brokers will try and sell house insurance as part of the lending process. Our view is to shop around, as banks and mortgage brokers make plenty of commission from selling policies, which may not be the best available in the market.

No - house insurance is the responsibility of your landlord to protect the buildings. You can consider contents insurance, but this not required either.

Most insurers offer monthly, quarterly and annual payment options. Be aware that in some cases, paying monthly can mean you pay 10-15% more, which we believe is far too high. 

​Each policy will be quoted with a compulsory excess, which many insurers let you adjust upwards or downwards before buying the policy. The excess is always outlined when you buy a policy, and generally, a higher excess will lower the cost of your insurance premium, and a lower excess will increase the cost of insurance. In our research, we found $500 was the most common standard excess. 

When you select your excess, consider what you could afford tomorrow if disaster struck. If your limit was $500 or $750, a similar excess would be more appropriate than selecting a $1,500 or $2,500 excess, even if you pay more annually for a policy.

If you to insure your contents as well, our guide to house and contents insurance explains more. If you do buy a combined policy, make sure you check the details carefully. Some insurers may have a separate excess for both parts of your policy, which means a claim affecting both the structure of your home and its contents, such as a flood or fire, will result in a double excess. Be sure to check a policy for this limitation. 

Yes - if you move house you can cancel and be refunded any prepaid time on your policy. You can also increase or decrease your sum insured cover at any time; the insurer will re-calculate your policy cost based on the new amount.

Once you’ve become familiar with the basics and have decided to purchase house insurance, it’s time to get the best quote for what you need. Unlike travel insurance or life insurance, there are no price comparison websites for house insurance.
 
Get the best policy without becoming overwhelmed by the details

Tip 1 – Read our Best Buy House Insurance policies below to get an idea of price and coverage
We have put together a number of house insurance quotes from AA Insurance, AMI, AMP, ANZ, Inition, State, Trade Me, Tower and Westpac for a number of properties all over New Zealand. The purpose is to help everyday New Zealanders to understand the cover level and make it easier to pick the right policy while reducing the chance of overpaying for cover.  

Tip 2 - Check your policy cover and excess
Make sure the policy quote offers the right level of cover, and consider what excess levels or extra coverage you are happy with. Generally, a higher excess coupled with lower coverage (in dollar terms)  equals a cheaper quote, but it's essential to make sure the cover level is sufficient when buying house insurance (or any insurance for that matter).  

Tip 3 – Lower the excess only if you are comfortable paying more for a policy cost
If you have the right level of cover, you can pay less for a policy by choosing to have a higher excess. However, it's important to make sure you can afford the excess if and when you need to make a claim.

In almost every case, making a claim will be an easy process. Knowing your house insurance policy’s excess level and terms and conditions will limit any nasty surprises.  To have the best experience when making a claim, follow these steps:

1. Insurers ask to be contacted as soon as possible when there is damage or a loss. You will need to be able to pay the excess for the claim to be processed. Generally, insurers require you to:
2. Provide full details of the situation - the time and date, reason or cause etc.
3. Provide evidence of the loss - photographs of the damage to your home, a police report etc.
4. In the case of earthquake damage, your home may not be accessible for days, weeks or even months while the damage is assessed. Do not enter your property in this time.
5. In the case of flooding, it can take weeks (or longer) for a property to dry out. 
6. Report any sewage issues or hazards to your local city or district council.
7. Do not attempt to make any repairs yourself - always contact your insurer and arrange for an approved professional to do any work that is covered. If it's an emergency and your insurer cannot fix the problem, contact a qualified plumber, electrician or builder. You can keep the receipts and claim on these. 
8. If you have the right level of cover, your house insurance policy will pay out for any damage incurred. Most policies also cover alternative accommodation (hotels, motels, etc.) if you cannot access your property. 

If your claim is rejected, appeal and complain

• Your insurer should inform you, in detail, why the claim was rejected and how it falls outside your policy.
• If you disagree, jump on the phone and explain why your claim meets the T&Cs of the policy you bought.
• If the insurer still refuses to cover your claim, ask your insurer for a "letter of deadlock". This letter lays out why the insurer disagrees with your claim. Once you have the letter of deadlock, you can access the Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme which resolves disagreements between customers and their insurers.
• Their free-of-charge service will make the final decision about your claim and order the insurer to pay out if they find in your favour. 
• If your insurer isn't a member, you can complain to Financial Services Complaint Ltd who follow a similar process.

• ​Insurance policies rely on wording that is often fraught with jargon, giving them a reputation for being both convoluted and confusing.
• Something as important as insuring your house should come with some certainty – so how do you demystify this? Many MoneyHub readers ask how their premium costs are calculated, and where the costs go. 
• The premium cost is variable: a rental property in Auckland, for example, will likely have a cheaper premium than an equivalent property in Christchurch due to earthquake risk. Based on the big data leading house insurance company Initio shared with us on their claims, many factors determine premiums – some of these things include relative exposure to weather events, flood zones, vulnerability to theft and the historical record of claims in the area.  

Insurers use the following factors, among others, to calculate your premium:  

1. Location

• ​An insurance premium is heavily dependent on the likelihood of earthquakes and storms, based on historical data.
• Many insurers moved to risk-based pricing in 2018, meaning that low-risk places like Hamilton will no longer subsidise higher-risk regions such as Napier.

 
2. Water supply and emergency services

• The closer a house is to a fire station, and the better the access a property has to water, the less likely it is to burn to the ground. A property 30 minutes out of town relying on rainwater tanks will attract a higher premium.    

3. Age of the property 

• This can affect premium pricing. For example, houses built before 1935 are more likely to have claims than those built afterwards because they are more likely to have corroding electrical wiring, old pipes that can’t cope with increased town water pressure, and original roofing more susceptible to storm damage.   

4. Use of the property 

• Data indicates that houses occupied by their owners have fewer losses than those occupied by tenants or short-term guests. A rental property attracts landlord risk (such as malicious damage and loss of rents) so a landlord insurance policy will always cost at least 20% more than the relatively insurance rating for an owner-occupied home.
• Holiday homes sit for longer periods of inoccupancy, which increases other risks such as unnoticed water damage, break-ins and burglary.    

5. Replacement value

• The greater the insured value of a property, the higher the premium. The increase in premium isn’t linear – so a $1,500,000 rebuild value doesn’t attract double the insurance premium of a $750,000 rebuild.
• After a certain point, the cost of insurance increases at a decreasing rate, reflecting the fact that over 95% of insurers’ claims are for smaller loss (e.g. up to $10,000) not total losses requiring a complete rebuild.    

6. Excess and extras 

• An excess is the amount the property owner is willing to absorb at claim time. The more the owner is willing to pay, the lower the risk to the insurer – and the lower the premium cost.
• Extras that increase the premium are the additional covers the property owner adds, e.g. increasing loss of rents from $20,000 to $80,000 for a rental property, or adding nil excess glass cover.    

7. Government Levies

• A government earthquake levy is added to the insurance cost of every residential property, to cover for natural disasters losses to dwellings and land up to $150,000 + GST.
• This is currently set at $300 + GST per residential unit, the earthquake levy covers $150,000 of the loss. Anything over $150,000 is paid for by the insurance company. In this way, your insurer collects your EQC levy as part of your total insurance cost and passes them onto the Earthquake Commission. 
• The second type of levy included in your premium is another fixed component cost: the Fire and Emergency Service Levy. This levy contributes toward the cost of running emergency services (fire brigade, ambulance service, etc.) of which residents of New Zealand collectively share the benefit.
• Like the earthquake levy, the fire levy is charged on each residential unit at a rate of $106 + GST per living unit, and an additional $21.20 + GST if cover for contents is included in your policy. In the same way, your insurer collects the fire levy as part of your insurance premium and passes those funds onto the NZ Government.
• Unlike the EQC, if you choose not to have residential property insurance, you will still benefit from the fire and emergency services, even though you have not directly contributed to these services.  

8. GST

• Like all domestic goods and services in New Zealand, a 15% GST tax is then applied to the total insurance cost (insurer premium, EQC levy, and Fire levy). This total becomes the cost of your insurance policy premium that is payable by you, the insurance customer.  
• So for a house insurance premium of $1,000 including GST (which is common), around $490 of this amount pays the levies. Around $510 is left over, which, net of GST, is around $443. This is retained by the insurer to pay claims, reinsurance and staff and distribution costs.