How To Find Cheaper Home Insurance
Home insurance costs are, overall, the most expensive they’ve ever been. Premiums averaged £416 a year as of July 2024, according to Pearson Ham Group’s latest Premium Price Index. While this marks a slight drop of 0.2% compared to June, it’s still 29% more expensive than in July 2023.
When it comes to your renewal quote, shopping around for cover is the best way to make sure you’re getting the all the protection you need at the best price. We’ve carried out some research to provide a sense of cheaper home insurance providers across a range of circumstances.
We list annual and monthly premiums but, in most cases, insurers charge a higher total premium if you opt to pay monthly. For more information about how the rankings were assembled, see our methodology section below.
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- Our pick of UK home insurance providers
- Property 1 is a four-bedroom, detached house in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire with four bathrooms and a rebuild value of £437,000.Property 1 is a four-bedroom, detached house in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire with four bathrooms and a rebuild value of £437,000.
- Property 2 is a three-bed semi-detached house in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire with one bathroom and a rebuild value of £244,000.
- Property 3 is a two-bed terrace in Yeovil, Somerset with one bathroom and a rebuild value of £197,000.
- CTA
- Methodology
- Why is home insurance important?
- Expensive items
- What contents insurance won’t cover
- Contents insurance extras
- New for old
- What buildings cover includes (and doesn’t)
- Six ways to reduce your home insurance premiums
Our pick of UK home insurance providers
We’ve listed annual and monthly premiums but in most cases, insurers charge a higher total premium if you opt to pay monthly. For more information about how the rankings were assembled, see our methodology section below.
Property 1 is a four-bedroom, detached house in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire with four bathrooms and a rebuild value of £437,000.Property 1 is a four-bedroom, detached house in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire with four bathrooms and a rebuild value of £437,000.
Policy Expert Bronze
Annual cost/per month
£1778.32/1 x £44.58 and then 11 x £13.97 (x11)(£198.25)
Compulsory excess
£350
Total sum insured
£660,000
(£60,000 contents)
Annual cost/per month
£1778.32/1 x £44.58 and then 11 x £13.97 (x11)(£198.25)
Compulsory excess
£350
Total sum insured
£660,000
(£60,000 contents)
At £1778.32 when paid upfront or £44.58 (x1) and then £13.97 (x11) per month (totalling £198.25), this was the cheapest policy we found based on our search criteria.
Policy Expert’s Bronze package provides £600,000 worth of buildings cover and £60,000 worth of contents cover – both in excess of what we required. There’s a compulsory excess of £100 on both buildings and contents claims, on top of the voluntary £250 excess we opted for.
Legal assistance can be added for £9.95 and home emergency cover can be added for £19.95.
- Lowest price
- More than adequate coverage
- No legal assistance
- No home emergency cover
Policy Expert Silver
Annual cost/per month
£206.37/1 x £51.66, 11 x £16.16 (£229.42)
Compulsory excess
£100
Total sum insured
£1,075,000
(£75,000 contents)
Annual cost/per month
£206.37/1 x £51.66, 11 x £16.16 (£229.42)
Compulsory excess
£100
Total sum insured
£1,075,000
(£75,000 contents)
At £206.37 when paid upfront or £51.66 (x1) then £16.16 (x11) per month (totalling £229.42), this was the second cheapest policy we found based on our search criteria.
Policy Expert’s Silver package provides £1,000,000 worth of buildings cover and £75,000 worth of contents cover – both far in excess of what we required. There’s a compulsory excess of £100 on both buildings and contents claims, on top of the voluntary £250 excess we opted for.
Legal assistance and home emergency cover are both included with the policy.
- Legal assistance and home emergency cover included
- Robust coverage
- Cheaper options are available
Tesco Insurance
Annual cost/per month
£244.81/12 x £22.42 (£269.04)
Compulsory excess
£350
Total sum insured
Unlimited
(£75,000 contents)
Annual cost/per month
£244.81/12 x £22.42 (£269.04)
Compulsory excess
£350
Total sum insured
Unlimited
(£75,000 contents)
This Tesco Insurance policy costs £244.81 a year when paid upfront, or £269.04 when paid monthly (12 x £22.42). The policy offers unlimited buildings cover as standard to repair or rebuild your home, and new for old contents cover up to £75,000. Total excess comes in at £350 for both contents and buildings cover.
- Competitive pricing
- Unlimited buildings cover
- Monthly payments are split evenly across 12 months
- Legal assistance and home emergency cover not included
- Cheaper policies are available
Property 2 is a three-bed semi-detached house in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire with one bathroom and a rebuild value of £244,000.
Policy Expert Bronze
Annual cost/per month
£136.72/1 x £34.19 11 x £10.71 (£152)
Compulsory excess
£350
Total sum insured
£660,000
(£60,000 contents)
Annual cost/per month
£136.72/1 x £34.19 11 x £10.71 (£152)
Compulsory excess
£350
Total sum insured
£660,000
(£60,000 contents)
At £136.72 when paid upfront or £34.19 (x1) and then £10.71 (x11) per month (totalling £152), this was the cheapest policy we found based on our search criteria.
Policy Expert’s Bronze package provides £600,000 worth of buildings cover and £60,000 worth of contents cover – both in excess of our requirements. There’s a compulsory excess of £100 on both buildings and contents claims, on top of the voluntary £250 excess we opted for.
Policyholders get £75,000 worth of cover for alternative accommodation, up to £5,000 for tracing and accessing the source of water/oil leaks and up to £300 for replacement locks.
Legal assistance can be added for £9.95 and home emergency cover can be added for £19.95.
- Lowest price
- More than adequate coverage
- No legal assistance
- No home emergency cover
Policy Expert Silver
Annual cost/per month
£181.71/1 x £45.48 11 x £14.23
(£202.01)
Compulsory excess
£350
Total sum insured
£1,000,000
(£75,000 contents)
Annual cost/per month
£181.71/1 x £45.48 11 x £14.23
(£202.01)
Compulsory excess
£350
Total sum insured
£1,000,000
(£75,000 contents)
At £181.71 when paid upfront or £45.48 (x1) and then £14.23 (x11) per month (totalling £202.01), this was the second cheapest policy we found based on our search criteria.
Policy Expert’s Silver package provides £1,000,000 worth of buildings cover and £75,000 worth of contents cover – both in excess of our requirements. There’s a compulsory excess of £100 on both buildings and contents claims, on top of the voluntary £250 excess we opted for.
Policyholders get £100,000 worth of cover for alternative accommodation, up to £5,000 for tracing and accessing the source of water/oil leaks and up to £300 for replacement locks.
Legal assistance and home emergency cover are included as standard.
- Legal assistance and home emergency cover included
- Robust coverage
- Cheaper options are available
Hastings Essential
Annual cost/per month
£212.87/1 x £20.19 11 x £19.53
(£235.02)
Compulsory excess
£250
Total sum insured
£550,000
(£50,000 contents)
Annual cost/per month
£212.87/1 x £20.19 11 x £19.53
(£235.02)
Compulsory excess
£250
Total sum insured
£550,000
(£50,000 contents)
At £212.87 when paid upfront or £20.19 (x1) and then £19.53 (x11) per month (totalling £235.02), Hastings Essential’s policy is competitively priced.
Hastings Essential’s provides £500,000 worth of buildings cover and £50,000 worth of contents cover. There’s a compulsory excess of £250 on both buildings and contents claims, on top of the voluntary £250 excess we opted for.
Policyholders get up to £50,000 worth of alternative accommodation cover, £5,000 to locate the source of a water or oil leak, and up to £500 towards replacement locks/keys.
Legal assistance and home emergency cover are not included, but can be added for £24.99 and £44.99 respectively.
- Discount for motor insurance customers
- £50,000 alternative accommodation cover
- Cheaper options are available
- Home emergency cover is expensive
Property 3 is a two-bed terrace in Yeovil, Somerset with one bathroom and a rebuild value of £197,000.
Swinton Essentials
Annual cost/per month
£93.37/1 x £7.84 11 x £8.74
(£103.98)
Compulsory excess
£100
Total sum insured
£550,000
(£50,000 contents)
Annual cost/per month
£93.37/1 x £7.84 11 x £8.74
(£103.98)
Compulsory excess
£100
Total sum insured
£550,000
(£50,000 contents)
At £93.37 annually or £7.84 (x1) and then £8.74 (x11) per month (totalling £103.98), this was the cheapest policy we found for property 3.
Swinton’s Essentials policy provides £500,000 worth of buildings cover and £50,000 worth of contents cover. There’s a compulsory excess of £100 on both buildings and contents claims, on top of the voluntary £250 excess we chose.
Policyholders get £30,000 worth of alternative accommodation cover, up to £500 for replacement locks, £250 for freezer contents and up to £5,000 for finding the source of escaping water.
Legal assistance can be added for £29.99 and home emergency cover can be added for £51.99.
- Lowest price
- More than adequate coverage
- No legal assistance
- No home emergency cover
Swinton Classic
Annual cost/per month
£93.37/1 x £7.84 11 x £8.74
(£103.98)
Compulsory excess
£100
Total sum insured
£550,000
(£50,000 contents)
Annual cost/per month
£93.37/1 x £7.84 11 x £8.74
(£103.98)
Compulsory excess
£100
Total sum insured
£550,000
(£50,000 contents)
At £100.83 when paid upfront in full or £8.45 (x1) and then £9.44 (x11) per month (totalling £112.29), this was the second cheapest policy we found for property 3.
Swinton’s Classic policy provides £500,000 worth of buildings cover and £50,000 worth of contents cover. There’s a compulsory excess of £100 on both buildings and contents claims, on top of the voluntary £250 excess we chose.
Legal assistance can be added for £29.99 and home emergency cover can be added for £51.99.
The difference between this policy and the slightly cheaper Essentials policy is that it covers up to £500 for replacement locks, up to £1,000 for blocked sewer pipes, up to £2,500 theft from outbuildings and up to £1,000 for garden contents.
- Competitive price
- Includes cover for blocked pipes, replacement locks, theft from outbuildings etc.
- No legal assistance
- No home emergency cover
Tesco Insurance
Annual cost/per month
£104.79/12 x £9.59
(£103.98)
Compulsory excess
£100
Total sum insured
£550,000
(£50,000 contents)
Annual cost/per month
£104.79/12 x £9.59
(£103.98)
Compulsory excess
£100
Total sum insured
£550,000
(£50,000 contents)
At £104.79 annually or £9.59 per month (totalling £115.08), Tesco offers a competitive product with no limits on building claims.
The supermarket bank’s policy provides £75,000 worth of contents cover on top of its no-limits building cover. There’s a compulsory excess of £100 on both buildings and contents claims, on top of the voluntary £250 excess we chose.
Policyholders get up to £50,000 worth of cover for alternative accommodation/rent and up to £5,000 to trace and access the source of any water or oil escaping from tanks.
Legal assistance can be added for £23.85 and home emergency cover can be added for £21 – which on face value is cheaper than many competitors’ prices.
- Unlimited buildings cover
- Good value legal and home emergency cover
- Legal and home emergency cover not included
- Cheaper policies are available
Methodology
We used the Forbes Advisor UK home insurance comparison to run a series of quotes for different types of properties: a detached home in Scotland, a semi-detached house in Cambridgeshire and a terraced house in Somerset.
For each quote we asked for £35,000 worth of contents cover and the appropriate level of buildings cover based on the Association of British Insurers’ (ABI) rebuild value calculator. We chose to pay premiums annually (monthly premiums are also shown), and opted for a voluntary excess of £250.
Here is how each of the three quote profiles looked:
Property 1: A 4-bed detached house in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire with 4 bathrooms and a £437,000 rebuild value. The property is occupied day and night and secured with a 5 Lever Mortice Deadlock Conforming to BS 3621. The property has one set of patio doors and is occupied by a married, 47-year-old headteacher of a state school (non-smoker) with nine years’ no claims discount.
Property 2: A 3-bed semi-detached house in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire with onebathroom and a £244,000 rebuild value. The property is unoccupied by day and secured with 5 Lever Mortice Deadlock Conforming to BS 3621. The policyholder is a graphic designer who smokes and has five years’ no claims discount.
Property 3: A 2-bed terrace in Yeovil, Somerset with one bathroom and a rebuild value of £197,000. The property is unoccupied by day and secured with a 5 Lever Mortice Deadlock Conforming to BS 3621. The policyholder is a 59-year-old mechanic (non-smoker) with seven years’ no claims discount.
We ranked policies from cheapest to most expensive when paid monthly and, taking into account each policy’s features, assigned each a star rating out of a possible five stars.
Why is home insurance important?
Whether you’re a homeowner or not, home insurance can help to prevent you from being left out of pocket if something bad happened – like a fire, a flood or a burglary.
Buildings and contents cover are designed to pay for repairs and/or replacement of your property. The former protects the structure of your home, including the roof, floors and walls – as well as permanent fixtures and fittings. Contents insurance protects things like your clothes, furniture, electronics, jewellery and other moveable valuables.
Buildings insurance is particularly important if you own a property with a mortgage because you’d still be liable for mortgage payments even if your home were razed to the ground by fire, leaving you with a significant debt to repay and no asset left as collateral.
Even if you don’t own your home, contents insurance can keep you from having to pay to fix or replace your valuable belongings if they’re damaged or stolen.
Having an appropriate home insurance policy in place can save you from having to pay hundreds, thousands or even hundreds of thousands or pounds.
Expensive items
Regardless of how much contents insurance cover a policy affords you, there’s usually a limit to how much an insurer will cover per item. This ‘single-item limit’ is usually between £1,500 and £2,500, which means you need to specifically declare any valuables worth more than that.
What contents insurance won’t cover
Like any type of insurance policy, contents insurance policies have exclusions. This means the insurer won’t pay out for damage or loss caused by:
- Wear and tear
- Pets
- Theft via unforced entry
- Mechanical/electrical breakdown
- Negligence
Some policies cover accidental damage, such as spilling paint on your carpet, as standard, whereas others charge extra. It’s important to read the policy wording carefully before buying to understand what is and isn’t covered.
Contents insurance extras
For the purposes of our rankings, we chose not to add any optional extras. Typical extras include:
- Legal assistance: Help towards legal proceedings if there’s dispute over a claim
- Home emergency cover: Protection for boiler breakdowns and burst pipes
- Accidental damage: Protection for accidents like smashed electronics or stained soft furnishings
- Personal possessions cover: Cover for valuables that you take outside your home, such as your mobile phone.
New for old
Some policies offer new-for-old cover, replacing stolen, lost or damaged valuables with new ones of an equivalent value.
Other policies instead take wear and tear into account, paying out a reduced amount over time in exchange for typically lower premiums.
What buildings cover includes (and doesn’t)
Buildings cover protects the ‘bones’ of your home – the floors, doors, windows, roof and walls, as well as patios, drains, pipes and garages.
Usually, buildings insurance will cover the cost of fixing damage caused by: ground movement (subsidence and heave), fire, flooding, storms and earthquakes, frozen and burst pipes, fallen trees, lampposts, aerials or satellite dishes, vehicle or aircraft collisions.
It does not typically include wear and tear (including corrosion and rust), wet rot, dry rot or frost damage, storm damage to fences and gates, damage caused by insects, birds, vermin and other pests or poor workmanship.
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