MoneySupermarket Monitor: Spotlight on Home Insurance

Welcome to the latest MoneySupermarket Monitor on Home Insurance. In this quarterly publication we take an in-depth look at the average premiums, claims, contents and possessions insured across the UK.

The data in this edition is representative of quotes run on MoneySupermarket.com from 1 March 2012 to 28 February 2013, and is based on 3,570,689 quotes run during this period.

Key findings

• Home insurance premiums have dropped across the board year-on-year. Overall home insurance registered a 7.2% fall, while combined buildings and contents dropped 8.2%, buildings insurance by 6.9% and contents insurance by a dramatic 15.6%.
• All 121 postal regions in the UK all saw a fall in home insurance premiums - the first time this has happened since the data analysis began in Spring 2010.
• Kingston upon Thames, Harrogate and Halifax have seen the largest falls in home insurance premium prices year-on-year. Harrow is the most expensive place to insure your home in the UK, with average premiums of £212. Norwich is the cheapest place to insure your home with premiums costing £113 on average.
• Nine per cent decline in home contents theft claims as burglary rates fall across the UK but Summer and Autumn are 'peak' seasons for theft from home claims.
• Man-made accidents continue to dominate claims across both home and contents insurance, accounting for 61.4% and 48.6% respectively.
• The value of items specified on insurance policies has risen to £3,199 - the highest levels since analysis began.
• Laptops, bicycles and jewellery continue to be the most commonly specified items while the most valuable are stamp and coin collections.

  Read the full report here:
  Spring 2013
  Autumn 2012		Summer 2012
  Spring 2012		Autumn 2011
  Summer 2011		Spring 2011