Home insurance in Brisbane

‘Home insurance’ is sometimes used as a blanket term for the following types of cover:

• Home insurance policies (also known as ‘building insurance’ or ‘home building insurance’) typically cover the home building and other structures at the insured address, including garages, sheds and fences.
• Contents insurance covers items in your home. Some insurers may even offer optional cover for portable valuables like mobile phones and laptops.
• Combined home and contents cover includes the benefits of both home building and contents insurance policies in one product.
• Landlord insurance can cover damages that may occur to your investment property. Landlord contents policies are also available, as well as combined cover. Some insurers may also offer optional cover for malicious damages by tenants and loss of rental income.
• Strata insurance works similarly to home building insurance but for apartments and townhouses. Strata insurance premiums are typically covered by the fees you pay to the body corporate for your apartment or townhouse complex.

Your coverage depends on the type of product you purchase. This table provides a guide to what’s generally covered by each kind of home insurance.

Whichever level of cover you’re looking to purchase, it’s worth reading the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for full details on inclusions, exclusions and other policy conditions. The Target Market Determination (TMD) could also help you determine if the type of cover is right for you.

There are several factors considered when your insurer calculates your home insurance premiums:

• Rebuilding and repair costs. Larger homes with more bedrooms generally have a higher value and cost more to rebuild than smaller homes, and your insurer will typically consider this when calculating your premium.
• Weather events that occur in Brisbane. Seasonal events like cyclones, floods and bushfires could impact your home insurance premiums. If you live in an area more exposed to these conditions, you may pay more for your cover.
• Crime rate in your suburb. Some areas of Brisbane may have a higher crime rate than others. For example, the southside of Brisbane had more recorded robberies than the northside in 2023 Depending on where you live, the crime rate may increase or decrease your home insurance premiums.

There’s no law in Queensland stating that home insurance is compulsory for homeowners. However, home insurance could provide a financial safety net if your home is damaged by weather events, vandalism, theft or attempted theft. If you’re a homeowner without home insurance, you’d have to pay for all these expenses yourself.

• Compare home insurance quotes
• Home and contents insurance in QLD
• Landlord insurance in QLD
• Building insurance
• Flood cover