Compare house insurance in Australia

Sum insured or total replacement: which cover are you comparing?

Home building policies come in two types. Sum insured cover pays up to a set amount that you choose. Total replacement cover pays the full cost to rebuild. Two quotes for the same house only compare like for like when they use the same type and, for sum insured cover, the same figure.

With sum insured cover, the figure is your estimate. ASIC’s report on home building underinsurance found that standard policies in Australia “place the burden of estimating rebuilding costs on the consumer”. If the figure is too low you are underinsured, and Moneysmart notes that most policies have a coinsurance (also known as averaging) clause that applies whenever underinsurance is below 80% to 90%. That clause limits the insurer’s liability on every claim, not just a total loss, to the proportion of the replacement value you insured.

Rebuilding can involve costs on top of the building work itself. Moneysmart lists demolition, site clean up, asbestos removal, council fees, architect and surveyor services and temporary accommodation as costs that are easy to leave out, along with extras like landscaping, rubbish removal and solar panels. The Insurance Council of Australia building and contents calculators give an estimate that beats a guess.

Building costs change over time, so Moneysmart suggests checking your cover every year and after any renovations. Under the General Insurance Code of Practice, an insurer that renews your policy automatically must remind you at each renewal to check your sum insured.

Sources: Moneysmart, Home underinsurance; ASIC Report 54, home building underinsurance; General Insurance Code of Practice (Insurance Council of Australia).

Building, contents or both?

Building insurance covers the house: the structure, fixtures like plumbing and built in cabinetry, and usually structures like a garage or inground pool. Contents insurance covers your belongings. A house owner can insure both, a strata body corporate may insure the building, and Moneysmart says renters don’t need building insurance but may choose contents insurance.

Moneysmart says building cover can also pay legal costs if someone is injured on your property, and that it does not cover household items and personal belongings, which is what contents insurance is for. So a quote for building cover alone and a quote for building and contents are two different products, even from the same insurer.

Apartments and units

In a strata scheme the body corporate or owners corporation may be responsible for insuring the building. Strata insurance is mandatory in NSW, and in Victoria all owners corporations except two lot subdivisions must take out reinstatement and replacement insurance for the buildings on common property. You remain responsible for your own belongings, so check what the strata policy covers before you compare contents quotes.

Renters and landlords

If you rent, Moneysmart says you don’t need home building insurance because it’s the landlord’s responsibility, though you may still choose contents insurance. If you own a property you rent out, see our guide to landlord insurance in Australia.

Putting a value on your contents

The contents sum insured is what it would cost to replace your belongings. Moneysmart says most contents insurance pays replacement value, sometimes called new for old cover, while some policies pay what your belongings are worth at the time they are insured. Our guide to how much home contents insurance you need walks through it room by room.

Sources: Moneysmart, Choosing home insurance; NSW Government, Strata finances and insurance; Consumer Affairs Victoria, Owners corporation insurance.

What changes by state?

Three things change from state to state: the insurance duty added to your premium, whether an emergency services levy is collected through insurance, and the weather risks where the home sits. If you are buying, the point at which the house becomes your risk also depends on your state and your contract.

Insurance duty on home insurance premiums

Every state and territory except the ACT charges insurance duty on home building and contents premiums. RevenueSA notes that the duty is the insurer’s liability and that nothing prevents an insurer passing it on to the policy holder. Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania all work it out on the premium including GST.

Emergency services levies

In NSW, the Emergency Services Levy is collected from insurers of property and paid as part of insurance premiums. The NSW Government has said it is committed to replacing it with a levy spread across all properties, but its February 2026 announcement did not set a start date. Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia collect their emergency services levies through council rates instead, so there it is not part of your insurance premium.

Storm, flood and cyclone risk

Where the home sits changes the risks an insurer prices. Moneysmart says most home and contents policies cover storms, including lightning, cyclones, strong winds, rainwater, hail and snow, but flood is different: if your home is at high risk of flooding, insurance will cost more or flood cover might be excluded. Flood has a standard definition for home and contents insurance: “the covering of normally dry land by water that has escaped or been released from the normal confines of any lake, or any river, creek or other natural watercourse, whether or not altered or modified, or any reservoir, canal or dam”.

ARPC began operating the Australian Government’s cyclone reinsurance pool on 1 July 2022. The pool covers home, strata and small business policies. It operates Australia wide but targets support to cyclone prone areas, and one of the principles it was built on is to lower the reinsurance cost for most policies with medium to high cyclone risk.

Buying a home: when it becomes your risk

When the risk of damage passes to you depends on your state and your contract. The standard Queensland REIQ residential contract says the property is at the buyer’s risk from 5pm on the first business day after the contract date. In Victoria, Consumer Affairs Victoria says your lender will recommend building insurance from the date the seller signs the contract. Our guide to home insurance before settlement covers each state.

Sources: the revenue offices in the table; Revenue NSW, Emergency services levy; NSW Government, Next steps for Emergency Services Levy reform; State Revenue Office Victoria, Emergency services and volunteers fund; Queensland Government, Emergency Management Levy; DFES, Emergency Services Levy; Moneysmart, Storm, flood and fire insurance; ARPC, The Cyclone Pool; Consumer Affairs Victoria, Before property settlement; REIQ Contract for the Sale and Purchase of Residential Real Estate, first edition, clause 8.1.

How do excess and premium trade off?

The excess is the amount you pay towards a claim. Moneysmart says a higher excess usually means lower premiums, but you pay more if you make a claim. That is why quotes only compare fairly at the same excess: a lower premium on a higher excess is a different deal, not a better price.

Moneysmart’s checklist asks you to look at how much the excess is and whether increasing it could reduce your premium. Set every quote to the same excess first, compare, and only then see how each price moves when the excess changes. To understand the detail of what a policy covers, Moneysmart points you to its PDS.

Sources: Moneysmart, Home underinsurance; Moneysmart, Choosing home insurance.

Like for like checklist: what to line up before you compare prices

Line up the same cover type, sums insured, excess, flood cover and optional extras on every quote before you look at price. Moneysmart’s own list is premium, excess, exclusions, legal liability cover, extended cover and limits; the rows below add the items its home insurance pages say are easy to miss.

Matching these rows makes quotes much easier to compare, but policy terms and benefits can still differ in ways a checklist does not show, so read the PDS for the parts of the cover that matter to you.

What protections do you get when you buy, renew or claim?

Insurers must give you a Key Facts Sheet, and new policies come with a cooling off period of at least 14 days. Insurers that follow the General Insurance Code of Practice commit to claim time frames and, if you bought directly, to show last year’s premium at renewal. Unresolved complaints can go to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

• Cooling off. Moneysmart says insurance comes with a cooling off period of at least 14 days. During it you can tell the insurer you have changed your mind and get a refund of premiums paid, as long as you have not made a claim.
• Renewal. If you bought home building or contents insurance directly from the insurer, the renewal notice compares this year’s premium with last year’s and explains how it is calculated.
• Claims. If the insurer needs more information or an assessment, then within 10 business days of receiving your claim it tells you what information it needs, it updates you at least every 20 business days, and it decides within 4 months of receiving the claim except in the circumstances the Code lists.
• Sales. The Code says pressure selling is prohibited.
• Complaints. If the insurer cannot resolve a complaint in time, it must tell you about your right to take it to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

The current Code was last updated in October 2023. On 22 October 2026 the Insurance Council of Australia submitted a strengthened Code to ASIC.

Sources: Moneysmart, Choosing home insurance; Moneysmart, How to choose insurance; General Insurance Code of Practice (Insurance Council of Australia).