Home insurance covers the financial side of things when your home is damaged by storms, bushfires and more. It can cover various types of buildings, like standalone houses or apartment units.
A home insurance policy is specifically for the building you call home and its fixtures, which is why it’s sometimes called building insurance. Your personal items (like clothing, furniture, appliances and devices) are covered by contents insurance.
You can also combine home and contents insurance into one policy that covers both.
There are different types of cover that can suit the needs of different homes and homeowners, including owner occupiers, landlords and renters.
Home insurance cover is specifically for the building that you live in (and sometimes sheds, garages and other outbuildings as well). It provides you with financial cover should your home be damaged by any of the events listed on your policy. Owner-occupiers can have a combined home and contents insurance policy for a broader range of cover.
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A contents insurance policy will cover your personal effects and valuables if they’re damaged, destroyed or stolen. Some policies even cover portable contents, like laptops and mobile phones, while they’re out of the house.
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Landlord insurance policies are similar to home insurance in that they cover the building, but also include several features specific to landlords. Depending on your policy, landlord’s insurance can also protect against loss of rent, tenant defaults and legal action.
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Renters insurance (or contents-only cover) is taken out by tenants to protect their belongings (such as computers, clothing, jewellery, appliances and furniture) in their rental home.
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Home insurance can cover your abode for a range of scenarios. Different home insurance policies may have slightly different inclusions as well as monetary limits on what you’re covered for. We list a range of common benefits in home insurance below, plus some typical exclusions that you won’t likely be covered for.
| Scenario | Coverage |
| Storm damage | Yes |
| Fire damage | Yes, excluding damage from cigarette smoking, scorching or melting |
| Flood damage | Yes, but this may be an optional extra |
| Earthquake | Yes |
| Movement of the sea | No |
| Vandalism | Yes |
| Theft | Yes |
| Impact damage | Yes, but deliberate damage is not covered |
| Falling trees | Yes, excluding damage from tree lopping |
| Motor burnout | Yes, but may be an optional extra |
| Damage from vermin | No. This also includes damage from rodents and insects |
| War and uprising | No |
| Accidental damage to glass and ceramics | Yes, but this may be an optional extra |
| Loss of liquid | Yes, but doesn’t cover the repair or replacement cost of the item that caused the loss (such as a burst pipe) or the cost of the escaped liquid. |
| Removing debris | Yes |
| Damage from renovations | No |
| Temporary accommodation | Yes, if the home is uninhabitable while being repaired after an event |
| N.B. Some events such as flood damage may be an optional extra or a separate policy you can purchase alongside building and contents insurance. Limits and additional exclusions may apply. | |
Always check the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for any insurance policy before you buy to see the full details of what’s covered.
In just a couple minutes you’ll be viewing a range of home insurance policies with ease using our tools.
Weigh up available home insurance quotes before purchase with ease. You can look at coverage, excess payments and exclusions all in one place.
We’ll answer your burning home insurance questions here, or put you in touch with a trusted partner who can help.
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Flood cover helps takes care of the cost of repairs, rebuilding or a total loss on your home if it’s damaged by floodwaters. Most home insurance doesn’t come with flood cover as standard, but insurers will likely offer it as an optional extra instead.
Accidental damage cover helps protect your home against mishaps that might not be due to a listed event in a standard policy. Adding this optional cover can help provide a wider financial safety net against accidental damage to the home which can happen as part of everyday life.
Adding motor burnout cover to your home insurance policy can help pay for repairs and replacement costs for fixtures like washing machines and aircon units if the electric motors within break due things like power surge or electric current.
There are several reasons why you should consider home insurance for your house:
Exclusions are things your insurance provider won’t cover you for. This can include using your building as a holiday house, renting it out to short-term guests and renovations gone wrong. Check out our list of common home insurance exclusions here.
The cost of home insurance in Australia varies greatly for each household and is based on a variety of factors, including:
Generally, the riskier the location (based on a history of storms, fire, floods and crime rates), the more it will likely cost to insure. There is a whole host of factors that can all influence the price of home insurance, though, which you can read about in more detail here.
Remember: You need to insure the home building for its replacement value in today’s money. A home that cost $200,000 to build twenty years ago may cost a lot more to rebuild now. If you don’t set the level of cover accurately and need to make a claim, you’ll need to pay for the difference yourself.
There are a few things you can do if you’re looking to make your home insurance cost less, including:
You can get home insurance for an apartment. If your building is run by a body corporate, they’ll likely have a strata insurance policy in place, which covers the physical structure of the building. However, it may not necessarily cover the fixtures and interior walls of your flat. Home insurance can be beneficial in providing greater coverage, as long as you own the apartment; if you do not own it, contents insurance may be more suitable.
The policyholders – typically yourself or whoever owns the home – can make a claim on your home insurance if there’s been an incident. If you wish to add someone else to your policy as a joint policy holder (e.g. a partner or parent) so they can also claim if necessary, you may need to contact your insurer to make the change.
If you’re building a house, you can’t get a home insurance policy until the construction is complete. While the building is under construction, the builders’ own insurance will pay for damages and incidents that occur. Be sure to inquire with the builder about their legal liability and insurance policy before you hire them.
Most home insurance policies provide a lifetime guarantee on the cost of repairs or new-for-old replacements, where a new fixture is installed following an insurance claim.
As the General Manager of General Insurance at Compare the Market, Stephen Zeller works to make the protection of a homeowners most significant financial assets, an easier and more efficient process. Stephen empowers people with choice and believes it’s important to have adequate cover in the event of the unexpected – fire, flood, storm, or vandalism.
Stephen has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. He is an Allied member of the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) and ensures any information about insurance products that we publish is accurate and comprehensive.
