Why has my home insurance renewal price gone up?
Your home insurance renewal price explained
All UK insurers are seeing a massive increase in the cost of customers' claims, which are affected by inflation and world events (like the energy crisis). You’ll have probably noticed this yourself with other bills rising too, and your weekly food shop going up – so similarly we’re seeing these increases as well. We're doing as much as we can to manage any rises, although we need to balance this with still offering a great service for our customers.
Why is my price higher than last years?
There’s been a big increase in the cost of customer claims, due to labour and materials, as well as the number of people who are making claims rising too. So, to make sure we can cover these additional costs, you may have seen your price go up – even if you haven’t made a claim yourself.
Some reasons for your price going up:
Construction costs
The House Rebuilding Cost Index compiled by the Building Cost Information Service measures changes in the price of rebuilding costs (like the price of raw materials and labour costs). In the two years to January 2024 the Index rose by 21%1, further impacting on the cost of repairing people’s homes.
Climate change
Has caused major weather events in the UK, leading to more claims being made - Insurers paid out £352million1, dealing with 36,000 claims to their home insurance customers following Storms Babet, Ciaran, and Debi.
Subsidence
The recent heatwaves led to a significant increase in the number of subsidence payouts, jumping 21% from £45 million to £54 million in 20231.
Theft
At year end in September 2023 police-reported crime, including home theft, was estimated at around 1.5 million incidents - no change from the previous year .(Source: Crime in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk))
1 All stats are from the Association of British Insurers (ABI), who collate data for the whole insurance industry.
What if I make changes while my policy is active?
If you update or change your details during your policy period, the price of your premiums could change. For example, if you build an extension on your home, you may have to pay more to insure it.
Make sure your policy details are up to date and correct. If you don’t, this could invalidate your policy. The quickest, easiest way to make changes to your insurance policy is in your online AXA Account. You have 24/7 access, so you can make changes any time. You'll also save £25, as there’s no admin fee for making changes online.
For more details about making changes to your AXA Home Insurance policy, visit our handy FAQ page.
Frequently asked questions
Why has my price gone up when I haven’t made a claim?
The cost and number of home insurance claims has increased a lot in the past year, and as your premium is combined with others into a pot for claim payouts, this then needs to stretch further. So, even if you haven’t made a claim yourself, your price might still go up.
For example, a house fire can lead to a high-cost claim if many possessions are destroyed and there's lots of damage to the building. What you pay for your insurance wouldn't cover the full cost of this claim, so the rest would come out of the pot instead.
We need to make sure that there's enough money for future claims, as around 52% of what customers pay for their premiums is then paid out in claim costs.
You can find out more about how your premium is split on our premiums explained page.
Could I get a cheaper price as a new customer?
The FCA changed some of their rules in 2022 - meaning that existing customers now get the same (or sometimes a cheaper) price than a new customer on a like for like policy, quoted on the same day.
Find out more on our pricing and renewals page.
How can I reduce the cost of my insurance?
There are ways to look at reducing the cost of your insurance, however you still need to make sure that you’ve got the cover you need. As you want to know that if you needed to make a claim, you’d be covered. But, here are some things you can look at:
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Optional extras
check that these are still relevant to have before you renew -
General overview
keep your policy details up to date, as even small changes can affect your price. Check that you’re not covered elsewhere for the same thing, for example boiler cover, so you aren’t paying twice -
Amount of cover
if your policy is one of our older products, such as a Homesafe policy - you might find that one of our new lower tier products has the cover you need at a lower cost
What financial support is there?
It’s important that you make payments on time, but we know it’s not always as easy as that. If you need to talk to us about your payments, please contact us so we can try to help.
You can also look at these resources for more support and advice:
