House insurance premiums have shot up 28% over the last three years, increasing by an average of $643, according to data from insurance comparison website Quashed.
The average premium cost for general insurance over the last three years has also edged up, increasing 21%. Comprehensive car insurance premiums jumped 11% and contents insurance premium costs rose 13%.
In terms of the dollar value increase, there has been a $867 average rise in general insurance, a $643 hike in house insurance premiums, a $128 jump for comprehensive car insurance and a $96 increase for contents premiums.
But speaking to interest.co.nz on Wednesday, Quashed chief executive Justin Lim says comparing the September 2026 quarter to September 2025 quarter, average insurance premiums across the board rose just slightly.
This was good to see, Lim says, as it meant people were not facing big price increases to their premiums year-on-year.
Quashed data shows house insurance has seen a 2% year-on-year increase with the average premium rising to $2946 from $2875.
General insurance (Quashed describes this as a house, contents and comprehensive car policy) saw a 2% increase in the past year, going to $5067 from $4966. Meanwhile average comprehensive car insurance premiums increased 4% year-on-year, a jump of $45 - going to $1268 from $1223. And average contents insurance premiums saw a 2% decrease, dropping to $853 from $868.
Competition
Lim says insurance companies are also being more competitive at the moment with their advertising and offering extra incentives like gift cards.
“We are seeing a lot more competition in the market.”
And generally, this is good for consumers as they can shop and compare insurance policies across a range of providers, he says.
Quashed lets people upload their insurance policy documents so they can read about detailed information on their plans, costs and renewal dates. At least 100,000 people have used the platform. The website also has a comparison tool which analyses and compares different policy options.
Lim says comparison activity on Quashed has jumped 40% year-on-year.
“Our data shows a high proportion of people that are shopping … are finding good savings, and when we look across the board, combining car, house and contents [insurance], the average savings that's being found is over $1600 and those are pretty big figures for a household.”
Excess
To offset premium costs, some homeowners have been increasing their average excess, Lim says, and more people are continuing to look at higher excess levels for car and contents insurance too.
The latest Quashed data found that, on average, selected excesses were up 18% year-on-year.
Excess is a person’s contribution to a claim while the insurer pays for the rest of the claim, and people who choose a higher excess will have a lower overall premium.
House insurance saw the highest excess increase at 23% while car insurance saw a 17% jump and contents was up 10%. Contents insurance had the lowest excess increase, reflecting lower baseline premiums.
“House insurance was definitely the highest. It makes a lot of sense because when we look at the average house insurance premium, it is much higher than say car or contents insurance.”
Lim says the average excess figures for house insurance had gone up from $984 to $1206 compared to a year ago.
Meanwhile, the average excess figures for contents insurance had jumped from $542 to $636 and car insurance had gone from $462 to $507.
“It’s great to see that consumers are looking at these options in order to look at how they can make their premiums more cost-effective and really work for them,” Lim says.
Paying in instalments for car insurance can sometimes cost you 10% more
Quashed recently worked on a survey with specialist vehicle insurance provider Assurant.
The survey has a sample size of 80.
It found that 68% of respondents under the age of 40 paid their car insurance premiums fortnightly or monthly. Meanwhile 66% of those over 40 paid fortnightly or monthly.
When asked if they were aware that some insurers charge instalment fees of around 10% if people paid fortnightly or monthly, around six in 10 respondents under 40 were unaware of the extra cost while four in 10 respondents over 40 were unaware of the extra cost.
With an average comprehensive car insurance premium at about $1270, some people would be paying an extra $127 on top of that, Lim says.
He again urged people to shop around as some insurers did not charge an extra instalment fee.
General insurance by age group
In the September quarter, the average general insurance cost for those aged 25 to 30 was $4580 and $4912 for the 31 to 39 age category.
People between the ages of 40 and 50 were paying on average $5093, while those in the 51 to 60 age range were paying $5064.
Those aged 61 and over were paying an average general insurance cost of $5128.
By region
Auckland saw a 4% year-on-year change in comprehensive car insurance premiums, to $1505 from $1455.
Canterbury saw an increase of 3% year-on-year, with the average car insurance premium rising to $1173 from $1136.
Meanwhile, Wellington saw a 6% jump with the average car insurance premium moving up to $1154 from $1092.
Regionally, there was a year-on-year decrease to average house premiums in Auckland and Wellington with no major change for Canterbury.
Auckland saw a 4% drop and Wellington saw a decrease of 2%.
Auckland’s average house insurance premium dropped to $2046 from $2121 while in Wellington, the average home insurance premium slipped to $4486 from $4559.
Canterbury dropped to $2997 from $3000.
As for the average contents insurance premiums in Wellington, there was a 14% decrease year-on year, going to $980 from $1134. Auckland saw no major change, slipping to $727 from $731. In Canterbury, average contents insurance premiums had a 4% rise year-on-year, increasing to $924 from $886.
For general insurance, Auckland saw a year-on-year decrease of 1%, to $4278 from $4307.
Meanwhile Canterbury saw a year-on-year increase of 1%, to $5094 from $5022, while Wellington saw a 2% year-on-year decrease for general insurance - to $6620 from $6785.
Quashed has 13 insurers on its platform for comparison. Turners Automotive Group has a 13% stake in Quashed after investing $1 million.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.