Home insurance prices coming down for first time in 19 months

Home insurance prices dropped in Q2 2024, ending 19 consecutive months of increases, the latest data from Consumer Intelligence has revealed.

According to the firm’s Home Insurance Price Index, published yesterday (28 August 2024), the past three months saw a 1.1% decrease in quoted premiums for buildings and contents insurance.

Around 26% of home insurance premiums quoted fell between the £150 and £199 range and over a quarter (29%) were able to source quotes below £150 in July this year – compared to 28% in the year prior.

Consumer Intelligence claims the drop is partially due to insurers investing in price comparison websites.

Insurers Esure, Esure Flex, 1^st Central and Allianz are now among the most competitive as a result, the firm said.

“After 19 months of sustained inflation, May 2024 finally saw some respite with prices decreasing slightly against April,” Consumer Intelligence senior insight analyst Matthew McMaster said.

“The second quarter of this year has seen more brands joining price comparison websites compared with the first quarter and this has helped with the slowing of inflation,” he added.

Year-on-year

However, in the 12 months leading up to the end of July 2024, the average quoted price of home insurance rose by 27.5%.

And overall, premiums rose by 67% compared to when Consumer Intelligence first started collecting data back in February 2014.

Regionally, meanwhile, all locations saw increases in quoted premiums over the past 12 months – ranging from 33.7% in London to 21.9% in the west Midlands.

However, nine of the 11 regions saw quoted premiums fall in the past three months, with the biggest decrease sitting at 3.2% in the west Midlands.

Scotland and Wales continued to see small increases of 0.8% and 0.2% respectively.