How much should you pay for a home insurance policy? There are so many different factors involved here that it's difficult to say. We'll explore this in more detail below, first looking at how much home insurance costs on average in the UK and then digging into some of the more specific things that could influence how much your house insurance premiums will be.

The average cost of home insurance in the UK

Let's take a look at data from the Association of British Insurers (ABI), published in the first two quarters of 2022. According to the ABI, the average cost of home insurance in the UK is:

• £225 a year for buildings insurance in the first quarter, rising to £228 in Q2
• £114 a year for contents insurance in Q1, rising to £116 in Q2
• £307 for combined buildings and content insurance in Q1, falling to £299 in Q2

So that’s a basic summary of average house insurance costs, but of course, there’s more.

These costs are interesting because they are going against the grain to some extent. We're used to pretty grim financial news at the moment, with the cost of living crisis hitting the headlines, but these figures might actually make for slightly more cheerful reading. Rising costs are usually never good, but let's put them in context.

Buildings insurance premiums fell by 7% compared to the first quarter of 2021 and fell by 10% between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022. Contents insurance fell by 11% year on year in Q1 2022 and by 10% year on year in Q2. Both of these values are the lowest since the ABI's records began back in 2012.

Combined policy premiums fell by 2%, reaching the lowest level in four years, and fell again in Q2, for a year-on-year decrease of 7%. So if you’re asking, how much is home insurance? Well, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but on average, it's less than it used to be.

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What affects home insurance costs?

We've looked at a few averages, and these are certainly useful, but let's think more specifically — how much is home insurance going to cost for you? To get closer to this answer, let's take a look at what affects home insurance costs in the UK.

Where you live

This one might seem a little unfair, but the place you live is a factor affecting home insurance costs. Insurance providers generally base their premium costs on risk. So, they may take your postcode into account while they decide on the risks to your property.

If you live in an area with a history of flooding, this may push your home insurance premium costs up. If your area has a high burglary rate, this might also increase your premiums.

Property value, or the amount of coverage

This one is probably a little more straightforward — if you want your insurance provider to cover property that has a lot of value, then this will probably push the premiums up.

If you're only insuring part of this property and its contents, your premiums may increase based on the value of the portion you are insuring.

Property type

The type of property is also a factor affecting home insurance costs. Detached properties might cost more to insure than semi-detached houses, terraced houses, or flats — simply because they have a different risk profile, although they also tend to be more expensive.

Other aspects, like non-standard construction materials and techniques or flat areas of the roof, may also increase the cost of your premium with some insurance providers.

Your security measures

As you can probably tell from what we've looked at above, security has a big role to play when we consider how much home insurance costs. If you have installed security features in and around your home, this might help you reduce your premiums.

This might include the use of security cameras, alarm systems, and security fencing. Making sure you have reliable locks on all points of entry, including doors and windows, might also bring your home insurance premiums down. Basically, the more secure your property, the lower the risk. Lowering risk may see you reduce your home insurance premium costs at the same time, depending on your insurance provider.

At Urban Jungle, we’re doing things differently. For example, to get a quote you don’t need to answer tonnes of baffling questions - we’ll never ask you how flat your roof is.

Your work or travel arrangements

Home insurance providers prefer to work with clients who are at home a lot, particularly at night. If you spend most nights at home, you might find that your premiums are lower than someone who works away for several days or weeks at a time or someone who travels frequently and leaves their home empty.

Renting your property out to others while you are away brings other risk factors. This could even make you ineligible for standard home insurance, as you could technically be a landlord rather than an ordinary homeowner. You might still be covered by normal homeowner insurance if you have lodgers (as opposed to tenants), however. In some cases, your home insurance provider may also want to ask you a number of questions about your lifestyle and your circumstances, and your answers might influence how much your home insurance premiums are.

Your claims history

If you have made claims on your insurance in the past, this might increase your premiums too. Basically, your home insurance provider may want to know how likely you are to make a claim in the future. If you've made a claim in the past, especially in the last few years, this might suggest you might make a claim again in the future.

Does the cost of your previous claim affect your insurance premium? It can do, yes. Again, it comes down to risk. If you have made a big claim in the past, your insurance provider might think you could make a big claim again sooner or later, so you could represent a higher level of risk.

A few final tips…

Understanding how much home insurance costs on average is only part of it. There are lots of other factors to bear in mind, many of them specific to your own case. Take a look at these final points before we finish up:

• Average home insurance costs in the UK decreased in 2022.
• Just remember you may pay more or less than the UK average, depending on other key factors.
• Where you live, your property type, the property's security measures, and other factors may influence the cost of your premiums.
• At Urban Jungle, we don’t judge customers on many of the factors that traditional insurance providers do. We’re keeping things simple, clear and fair.
  

Now you know a bit more about how insurance costs are worked out, you can get a quote with Urban Jungle in just a couple of minutes right here.

Urban Jungle is not a financial advisor and information in this article should not be taken as advice or recommendation.