Compare & Save On House Insurance

How to find cheaper house insurance in 2026

1. 1

   Compare at least five different house insurance providers.

   This increases your chances of finding a better cover and a better deal.

2. 2

   Use up-to-date information.

   Your sum insured value, address information and details impact your premiums.

3. 3

   Pick the right payment option, excess level and add-ons for you.

   Paying yearly, increasing your excess and reducing add-ons will save you money.

More ways to save on house insurance

How much does house insurance cost in NZ?

Based on Q2 2026 Quashed Index data, the average house insurance premium in New Zealand is $2,949 a year — about $246 a month.²

• $2,949National average, per year
• $246Roughly, per month
• +34%Over three years (+$745)
• $2,056Auckland average

House premiums rose sharply through Q2 2024 and Q2 2025, then eased about 3% in the latest quarter. They are still 34% higher than three years ago, and the gap between the cheapest and dearest quote has kept widening throughout — so a lower average does not mean your own renewal came down.

Average premium by region

Averages are a starting point, not a quote. What you actually pay turns mostly on your sum insured and your excess — the table below shows how much those two levers move the price.

Working out your sum insured

Almost every New Zealand house policy is sum insured: you name a figure, and that is the most the insurer will pay. Getting it right is the most important decision you make.

The figure is the cost to rebuild — not what the property would sell for, and not its rateable value. It includes demolition, site clearance, consents and professional fees, which people routinely forget.

1. 1

   Start with an online calculator

   Most insurers and the Cordell calculator estimate a rebuild cost from your floor area, construction and location. It takes a few minutes and is free.

2. 2

   Get an estimate for anything unusual

   Older homes, heritage features, steep sites and bespoke builds all cost more to rebuild than a calculator assumes. A professional estimate is worth the money.

3. 3

   Include everything outside the walls

   Driveway, fences, decking, retaining walls and the garage. They are part of the rebuild, so they are part of the cost.

4. 4

   Review it after any renovation

   An extension or a kitchen refit changes what it would cost to rebuild. A sum insured set years ago is almost certainly too low now.

What drives the price of house insurance

Insurers weigh these differently, which is exactly why the same household gets very different quotes from different insurers.

• Your sum insured

  The single biggest lever. This is the cost to rebuild your house from scratch, and it is not the same as what the property is worth.

• Where the house is

  Earthquake, flood and coastal risk vary street by street. It is why Wellington premiums run so far above Auckland.

• How it was built

  Age, cladding, roof and foundation type all change the price. Older timber and unreinforced masonry usually cost more to insure.

• Your excess

  What you pay towards a claim. Raising it lowers your premium, but only pick a figure you could actually pay on the day.

• Your claims history

  Recent claims on the property raise the premium with most insurers. A long claim-free run is worth mentioning to a new insurer.

• Whether anyone lives there

  Unoccupied, tenanted and holiday homes are priced differently from an owner-occupied house, and some policies restrict long vacancies.

Risk-based pricing, and why your street matters

This is the biggest change in New Zealand house insurance, and the reason comparing matters more than it used to.

It also explains the regional spread in the table above. Wellington’s average sits far above Auckland’s not because houses cost more to build there, but because the earthquake risk is priced into every policy.

Top 5 reasons to use Quashed for house insurance

1. 1

   The most comprehensive house insurance comparison in NZ

   Compare and shop across the widest range of house insurance providers available on one platform.

2. 2

   Compare your current house insurance policy

   The only platform that lets you upload or select your existing provider to see what you could save, and to compare policy benefits side by side.

3. 3

   Accurate pricing and up-to-date cover comparison

   Market Scan pulls real-time pricing directly from providers, and our policy comparison data is checked and updated quarterly.

4. 4

   More than 100,000 consumers have used Quashed

   Market Scan has been helping Kiwis compare and save on house insurance since April 2021.

5. 5

   Backed by Icehouse Ventures, Turners Automotive Group and NZGCP

   Quashed counts Icehouse Ventures, Turners Automotive Group and the NZ government venture fund NZ Growth Capital Partners among its investors.

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Six ways to pay less for house insurance

1. 1

   Compare before every renewal

   Renewal offers are not benchmarked against the market. Comparing is the single most effective thing you can do.

2. 2

   Check your sum insured is right

   Set too low and you carry the shortfall on a rebuild; set too high and you pay every year for cover you can never claim.

3. 3

   Choose an excess you can afford

   Raising your excess lowers the premium — but the saving is only real if you could pay the excess without borrowing.

4. 4

   Tell your insurer about upgrades

   A new roof, rewiring or replumbing can reduce your premium with some insurers. They will not know unless you say.

5. 5

   Check the multi-policy maths

   Bundling house and contents can be cheaper, but not always. Compare the bundle against two separate policies rather than assuming.

6. 6

   Pay annually if you can

   Monthly instalments often carry a surcharge. Paying yearly avoids it, where the cash flow allows.

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What you need to get a quote

Comparing house insurance takes about 90 seconds. Have these to hand:

• The address, and roughly when the house was built
• Your sum insured — the cost to rebuild, not the market value
• Construction details: cladding, roof and foundation type
• Your preferred excess
• Any claims on the property in the last few years
• Whether it is owner-occupied, tenanted or sometimes empty

How Market Scan works

1. 1

   Tell us about the property

   Address, age, construction and your sum insured. It takes about 90 seconds.

2. 2

   We quote the market in real time

   Market Scan requests live quotes from our participating insurers rather than showing a static table of prices.

3. 3

   Compare price and cover side by side

   You see what each policy costs and what it actually includes, so a cheap premium with a large exclusion is visible.

4. 4

   Buy online or keep your current policy

   If nothing beats what you have, that is a useful answer too. There is no cost either way.

Start your free Market Scan

Do you need house insurance?

Not by law. But if you have a mortgage, your lender will require it as a condition of the loan — so in practice most homeowners have to hold it.

Mortgage-free is where it becomes a real choice, and the useful question is a blunt one: if the house burned down tonight, could you fund the rebuild yourself? For almost everyone the answer is no, and that gap is what the policy is for.

What house insurance covers

Cover varies by insurer and policy. This is what a typical New Zealand house policy includes — always read the wording rather than assuming.

• Fire, smoke and explosion

  Including damage caused putting the fire out.

• Storm and flood

  Wind, rain and flooding damage to the building, subject to your policy wording. Gradual damage is treated differently.

• Earthquake and natural disaster

  Covered alongside the Toka Tū Ake NHC levy, which is collected through your premium. See the natural disaster section below.

• Burglary and vandalism

  Damage to the building from a break-in — broken doors, windows and locks. Your belongings are contents insurance.

• Burst pipes and water damage

  Sudden escape of water. Slow leaks that went unnoticed usually are not covered, which catches people out.

• Temporary accommodation

  If the house becomes unliveable, most policies contribute towards somewhere to stay while it is repaired.

What house insurance does not cover

Exclusions are where claims get declined. These are the ones that catch people out most often.

• Wear, tear and gradual damage

  Insurance covers sudden and accidental loss. A roof that has slowly aged, or a leak that went unnoticed for months, is maintenance.

• Your belongings

  Furniture, clothes and electronics are contents insurance. House insurance covers the building and what is fixed to it.

• Poor workmanship or design

  Damage caused by a bad build or a botched renovation is usually the builder's problem, not the insurer's.

• Anything above your sum insured

  On a sum-insured policy the payout stops at your figure, however much the rebuild actually costs.

• Deliberate damage

  Damage caused intentionally by you or anyone living there is excluded by every insurer.

• Long vacancies

  Most policies restrict cover once a house is unoccupied beyond a set period, often 60 days. Tell your insurer before you leave.

Rebuild cost is not market value

This is the most common and most expensive misunderstanding in house insurance.

The two can differ enormously in either direction. A modest house on expensive Auckland land may cost far less to rebuild than it would sell for; a large home on cheap rural land may cost far more. Insuring for the wrong one leaves you either short after a claim or overpaying every year.

Earthquake, flood and natural disaster cover

New Zealand handles natural disaster differently from most countries, and the split confuses people.

Sudden flood damage is generally covered. Gradual damage is not, and some properties in known flood zones carry limits or higher excesses — worth checking in the wording rather than assuming.

How your excess changes the price

Your excess is what you pay towards a claim. Raising it lowers your premium — often substantially.

The trade-off is real, though. A high excess only saves you money if you could actually pay it on the day something happens. Choose the figure you could hand over without borrowing, then compare at that level.

One insurer on one property, so read it for the shape of the lever rather than as a market rate. Every insurer prices excess differently, which is the reason to compare at the excess you would actually choose.

How much can you save on house insurance?

In Q2 2026, more than 6 in 10 Quashed users who compared house insurance found a cheaper policy, saving an average of $809 a year.¹

The same house, very different quotes

Across every comparison we run, the gap between the highest and lowest quote for the same house and owner averages $1,401 — about 63% of the cheapest premium³.

There is no single cheapest house insurer in New Zealand. The insurer that wins for one home routinely loses for the next, which is why comparing your own profile is the only way to know.

See the full Quashed Insurance Index

The average hides how differently insurers price an individual property. These are three real homes, each quoted across the same eight insurers on the same day:

Look at how the tables reorder. MAS is the most expensive option on the Auckland property and the cheapest in Canterbury. AA sits mid-pack in Auckland and is dearest in Canterbury. Initio is near-cheapest in Canterbury and the most expensive quote in Wellington, by a wide margin. Same eight insurers, same day, and no two rankings alike — which is why there is no single cheapest insurer to point you at, and why the only way to find yours is to compare.

The Canterbury and Wellington homes carry identical cover — $500,000 sum insured, $500 excess — so those two are directly comparable. Across the eight insurers the Wellington quotes average about 17% more, which is risk-based pricing in a single number. The Auckland property has a different sum insured and excess, so read it for the shape of its spread rather than as a regional price.

Quotes are point-in-time examples for the profiles described, not a ranking and not a prediction of your own price. Insurers are listed alphabetically.

Switching house insurers

You can switch at renewal or mid-policy. Most insurers refund the unused portion of your premium, though some charge a cancellation fee.

1. 1

   Compare before you cancel

   Get the new quotes first, so you are deciding between real options rather than hoping.

2. 2

   Match the cover, not just the price

   A cheaper premium with a lower sum insured or a bigger excess is not the same policy.

3. 3

   Start the new policy before ending the old one

   Overlap by a day rather than risking a gap where you are uninsured.

4. 4

   Tell the old insurer in writing

   Confirm the cancellation date and ask about any refund or fee, so nothing keeps auto-renewing.

Making a house insurance claim

1. 1

   Make everyone safe first

   After a fire, flood or quake, deal with people and safety before anything to do with the policy.

2. 2

   Stop further damage if you safely can

   Tarp the roof, turn off the water. Most policies expect you to prevent avoidable extra damage, and cover reasonable costs of doing so.

3. 3

   Photograph everything before you clean up

   Evidence disappears the moment repairs start. Photograph the damage from several angles first.

4. 4

   Contact your insurer promptly

   Most policies require notice as soon as reasonably possible. Do it before committing to any repairs.

5. 5

   Do not authorise permanent repairs yet

   Emergency make-safe work is fine. Full repairs usually need the insurer's agreement, or you may not be reimbursed.

6. 6

   Keep every receipt

   Make-safe work, temporary accommodation, anything you spend because of the damage. Much of it may be claimable.

House insurance guides

• House insurance guide
• Finding the cheapest and best cover
• How to save money on house insurance
• Replacement vs sum insured
• What standard house insurance covers
• Home insurance checklist
• Malicious vs accidental damage
• Default vs uninhabitable property
• Meth contamination and your policy
• How to compare house insurance quotes
• Why house insurance premiums are rising
• Rising house insurance costs
• Older homes and high-risk properties
• Key considerations for house insurance

House insurance FAQs

How much does house insurance cost in NZ?

Based on Q2 2026 Quashed Index data, the average house insurance premium in New Zealand is $2,949 a year, or about $246 a month. What you pay depends most on your sum insured, where the house is and how it was built.

What is a sum insured, and how do I work mine out?

It is the most your insurer will pay to rebuild your house, and it is not the same as the market value or the rateable value. Most insurers offer an online calculator, and for an unusual or older home a professional estimate is worth the cost.

Is house insurance compulsory in New Zealand?

Not by law. But if you have a mortgage your lender will require it as a condition of the loan, so in practice most homeowners must hold it.

What is the difference between house and contents insurance?

House insurance covers the building and anything fixed to it. Contents insurance covers what you would take with you if you moved. Fitted kitchens and built-in wardrobes are house; furniture, clothes and electronics are contents.

Why has my house insurance gone up so much?

Rebuild costs, reinsurance and natural-disaster risk have all risen. The Quashed Index has house premiums up 34% over three years. Insurers have also moved to risk-based pricing, so two similar houses in different streets can now be priced very differently.

What is risk-based pricing?

Insurers pricing each property on its own flood, earthquake and coastal risk rather than spreading that cost across a whole region. It means comparing matters more than it used to, because insurers assess the same property differently.

Does house insurance cover earthquakes?

Yes. Natural disaster cover comes through Toka Tū Ake NHC, funded by a levy collected with your premium, and your insurer covers damage above the NHC cap. You cannot buy the NHC portion separately.

Am I covered for flooding?

Sudden flood damage is generally covered. Gradual damage, and in some cases properties in known flood zones, may be limited or excluded — one to check in the wording rather than assume.

How much can I save by comparing house insurance?

In Q2 2026, more than 6 in 10 Quashed users who compared house insurance found a cheaper policy, saving an average of $809 a year.

Will raising my excess lower my premium?

Yes, usually significantly. The trade-off is that you pay more towards any claim, so only raise it to a figure you could genuinely pay on the day something happens.

Can I switch house insurers mid-policy?

Yes. Most insurers refund the unused portion of your premium, though some charge a cancellation fee. If you have a mortgage, tell your lender, and start the new policy before cancelling the old one so the property is never uninsured.

Does Quashed charge for comparing house insurance?

No. Market Scan is free, runs entirely online with no phone calls, and you pay the insurer exactly what you would pay going direct.

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Compare your other cover

• Car
• Contents
• Life
• Health

Reviewed July 2026 by James, Quashed. Figures are refreshed each quarter when the Quashed Insurance Index publishes.

Sources

1. Savings figures are from the Q2 2026 Quashed Insurance Index, based on quoted premiums via Market Scan (more than 11,000 quotes). They describe what users found when comparing, not what every household pays.
2. Average premiums are quoted premiums via Market Scan for the 1 Apr – 30 Jun 2026 period, Updated quarterly. They are not a record of what New Zealanders actually pay their insurers.
3. Average gap between the highest and lowest quote returned in the same comparison, Q2 2026.