New Actuaries Institute report finds 1.6 million Australian households face home insurance stress

As many as 1.6 million Australian households are now facing home insurance affordability stress, a new report has found, as steeper premiums crunch budgets.

A new Actuaries Institute report revealed this was up from the 1.24m reported a year ago, with these households now spending an average of 9.6 weeks of their gross income on home insurance.

Overall, the proportion of “affordability stressed” households — those facing home insurance premiums of more than a month’s gross annual income — rose 15 per cent in the year to March, from 12 per cent.

The local government areas suffering from extreme home insurance affordability pressures are concentrated in regional WA, the Northern Territory, and south-west Queensland.

In these areas, half the households face home insurance premiums that exceed a month’s gross household income.

Report lead author Sharanjit Paddam said it was concerning there were now 1.6m households struggling to afford home insurance.

“This is because increases in premiums are outpacing wages growth,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we expect this will continue because of the overall increasing risk of natural disasters associated with climate change, which will continue to put upward pressure on premiums.”

The new findings come after insurers Suncorp and IAG last week flagged premiums would rise by “mid to high single digits” this financial year as a result of higher costs from water leaks and fires.

Householders and motorists are facing escalating insurance premiums, with recent Insurance Council of Australia data showing the nation’s home-building insurance premiums rose an average 13.9 per cent in the year to March 31, followed by a 12.7 per cent rise in motor insurance and a 3.7 per cent rise for household contents premiums.

The Actuaries Institute has called for governments, insurers, lenders and investors to collaborate on sustainable finance measures such as resilience loans and bonds.