How much does it cost to insure a house in NZ?
General information, not advice on your situation. Buying through Tower's online quote is direct, without advice. QuoteHub is a Tower partner and Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission from Tower.
There is no set price for insuring a house in New Zealand, because every policy is priced on your own house, address and choices. The one official yardstick is Stats NZ, whose housing-cost survey put building-related insurance at an average of $58.70 a week in the year ended June 2025, up 9.8% on the year before. Only the government levies and GST in your bill are fixed by law, and the rest is worked out from your own details.
What is the average cost of house insurance in NZ?
Spread over 52 weeks, Stats NZ's $58.70 average is a little over $3,000 a year (Stats NZ). Treat that as a reference point, not a quote. It blends every type of home and region, so it cannot say what your address would be charged. Stats NZ has since flagged errors in the survey data behind it, says most figures can still be used and plans corrected data for February 2027 (Stats NZ).
A premium is the amount you pay each year for the policy, and a weekly or monthly price is that premium split into instalments, which ICNZ says may cost you more in some cases.
What is inside a house insurance premium
Tower splits a house premium into a base premium, which pays claims and running costs including reinsurance (insurance for insurers), a risk-based premium for the natural hazards at your address, two government levies and GST. The levies are charged on your sum insured, the most the insurer will pay to rebuild the house. One funds Natural Hazards Commission (NHC, formerly EQC) cover and the other funds Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ).
| Part of the bill | Who sets it | Rate | Maximum per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base and risk-based premium | Insurer | Set per property | No fixed maximum |
| Natural Hazards Insurance levy | Government | 16 cents per $100 of sum insured (Tower) | $480 plus GST (NHC) |
| Fire and Emergency levy | Government | 10.74 cents per $100 of sum insured from 1 July 2026 (FENZ) | $107.40 plus GST per dwelling (FENZ, Tower) |
| GST | Government | 15% (Tower) | No cap |
On a policy starting or renewing from 1 July 2026 with a sum insured of $300,000 or more, the level at which the NHC levy reaches its cap, both levies sit at their maximums, $480 and $107.40, so government levies come to $587.40 plus GST a year whichever insurer you use (NHC, FENZ).
Because the levies are a rate on the sum insured up to a cap, you can work them out yourself. The sums below are arithmetic on the published rates for three example sums insured, not quotes, and GST is added on top.
| Example sum insured | Natural Hazards levy per year | Fire and Emergency levy per year |
|---|---|---|
| $200,000 | $320 (16 cents per $100, Tower) | $107.40, the cap is reached (FENZ) |
| $300,000 | $480, the cap is reached (NHC) | $107.40 (FENZ) |
| $600,000 | $480, unchanged (NHC) | $107.40, unchanged (FENZ) |
Once the caps are reached, a bigger rebuild cost raises only the insurer's part of the bill.
The levy buys access to NHC cover, which generally pays up to $300,000 plus GST towards natural hazard damage to the building, with the private policy covering anything above that. Storm and flood damage to the house itself is not part of NHC cover, so it falls to the private policy (NHC). For more, see natural disaster insurance in NZ.
What moves your house insurance price
ICNZ says factors that make a claim more likely tend to raise a premium, and factors that make one less likely tend to lower it. Here are the main ones for a house, and the house insurance guide has the wider picture.
| What the insurer looks at | How it moves the price |
|---|---|
| Rebuild cost | Floor area, materials, finish, levels, site access and extras such as pools all feed the rebuild cost that sets your sum insured (Tower). See working out your sum insured. |
| Natural hazard risk | Tower prices earthquake, flood, landslide and sea surge risk at your address, as part but not all of the premium (Tower). |
| Age and basis of cover | Older houses can be offered a different basis of cover. Tower insures some at present day value instead of a sum insured, generally pre-1950s houses not fully re-lined, re-wired or re-roofed (Tower). |
| Excess | The excess is the part of a claim you pay yourself, and a higher one lowers the premium (ICNZ). Tower's standard house excess starts at $400, and a house left empty for more than 90 days adds $1,000 to the excess (Tower). |
| Cover level and extras | Tower calls Standard its most affordable house policy, and its three levels step up the limits, for example temporary accommodation of $15,000, $25,000 and $30,000 (Tower). Optional benefits add to the premium (Tower). |
| What you tell the insurer | Your answers decide the cover offered, the premium and any special terms such as an extra excess. Renting out, renovating, business use, flood exposure and security all count (ICNZ). See landlord insurance vs house insurance if the house is let. |
Insurers also price risk differently. ICNZ says reinsurance can in some cases cost more than the insurer's own charge for claims and running costs, especially for houses in riskier locations, and that risk-based pricing generally passes more of it to riskier properties while community pricing spreads it more evenly (ICNZ). So two insurers can price the same address differently.
Why two similar houses get different prices
Take two houses with the same floor area and the same sum insured. One sits on a flood-prone street and the other on higher ground. Tower prices earthquake, flood, landslide and sea surge risk at each address (Tower), so the risk-based part of the premium can differ even though the levies are identical. Add a different excess, a different level of cover or a different insurer, and the totals move again. That is why neighbours' prices make a poor guide. If flood or storm damage is your worry, natural hazards and flood cover explains what the private policy adds on top of NHC.
What can lower the price, and what to weigh
- Paying less for house insurance has the full list. The main levers start with the excess: Tower says a higher excess lowers the premium and means you pay more if you claim, so the trade-off is only sound for an amount you could pay on the day (Tower).
- Payment frequency matters. Tower says switching to annual payments at renewal may save up to 10% (Tower).
- The sum insured can be wrong in both directions. Too low and you may have to rebuild to a lesser size or pay part of the work yourself. Too high and you may pay too much, because policies do not require insurers to pay more than the actual cost of rebuilding (ICNZ).
- Security counts. ICNZ says you may receive a discount for devices such as window locks and deadlocked doors (ICNZ).
- A bundle discount is not a given. Tower no longer offers a multi-policy discount on new policies, though you may pay only one excess when one event hits more than one eligible policy (Tower). See home and contents insurance, one policy or two and how much contents insurance costs.
- Timing matters when buying. Tower suggests getting a house quote before making an offer on a property (Tower). See insurance on settlement day and first home buyer insurance.
Getting a quote from Tower online
For a house quote, have the address, build year, construction, floor area and sum insured to hand. QuoteHub's link opens Tower's online quote, Tower's own tool, where the price is built from those details. Other insurers sell house cover too, and a quote from one of them on the same sum insured and excess would show how the same house is priced elsewhere.
Questions people ask
How much is house insurance per month in NZ?
There is no set monthly price. Stats NZ's average of $58.70 per week is a little over $250 a month (Stats NZ), but a monthly price is just the annual premium in instalments, and yours depends on your sum insured, address and excess.
Why has my house insurance gone up?
Tower names more frequent bad weather, inflation and rising building costs, reinsurance and government levies (Tower), and says it adjusts your sum insured before each renewal to keep up with building costs (Tower). If a rise looks large, ICNZ says to check your policy schedule for errors and call your insurer (ICNZ).
How much should I insure my house for?
For what it would cost to rebuild it, including demolition, professional fees and council fees. Tower says the sum insured is not the market value, what you paid or what the land is worth (Tower), and ICNZ adds that it should not be the rateable value (ICNZ). The guide to working out your sum insured shows the method.
Can I work out my own house insurance cost?
Only in part. The levies are public: above the NHC cap they total $587.40 plus GST a year on policies starting or renewing from 1 July 2026 (NHC, FENZ). The rest depends on your address, sum insured and excess, which only an insurer's quote tool can price.
Which insurer charges the least for house insurance?
It depends on the house, because insurers price risk differently (ICNZ). QuoteHub's read: the only like-for-like comparison is the same house, sum insured, excess and level of cover priced by more than one insurer, and this site does not publish a ranking.
What happens if I do not have house insurance?
Most lenders require house insurance for the full length of a mortgage (Tower). NHC does not cover a building that had no valid home insurance policy including fire at the time of the disaster, so there would be no insurer and no NHC cover to pay for a rebuild (NHC).
Adviser's view
QuoteHub's read: the price follows what it would cost to rebuild your house and the natural hazard risk at your address, so only a quote on your own details gives a real figure.
Get a Tower quote online
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*$400 is made up of individual policy discounts, each available separately. New, eligible policies only with promo code EASYSAVE. Excl. contract works. Ends 30 Jan 2027. Ts&Cs apply. Tower’s Easy Save terms, checked 6 October 2026.
QuoteHub is a Tower partner. If you buy through this link, Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission from Tower. Buying online is not financial advice.
Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). How Much Is House Insurance in NZ? What Sets the Price. www.quotehub.co.nz/house-insurance/house-insurance-cost-nz. Updated 2026-10-07.
References
- Stats NZ: Household income and housing-cost statistics, year ended June 2025
- Stats NZ: Error notification for Household Income and Living Survey data, year ended June 2025
- NHC Toka Tū Ake: About natural hazards cover
- Fire and Emergency New Zealand: Fire and Emergency levy rate
- Tower: Understanding your house or landlord's premium
- Tower: Government levies explained
- Tower: House insurance
- Tower: Calculating your sum insured
- Tower: How to save on your insurance (published 18 June 2025)
- Tower: Multi-policy discount
- ICNZ: What makes up your premium?
- ICNZ: Insurance pricing, consumer guide (2024 edition)
- ICNZ: Things you need to tell your insurer, consumer guide (2025 edition)
- ICNZ: House and contents insurance
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