Home insurance premiums averaged £391 in spring 2025, ABI figures show

What happened

Home insurance premiums for combined buildings and contents cover averaged £391 between April and June 2025, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). Insurance Age reported the figures on 29 July 2025. They provide a historical comparison for household insurance costs, not a measure of prices available in October 2026.

The ABI put the quarterly fall in the combined premium at £2, a movement of less than 1%. Compared with the same three months of 2024, the average was £1 higher. Those small changes show little movement in the overall average, rather than a substantial reduction in the cost of cover.

For buildings-only policies, the ABI reported an average premium of £321 in the second quarter of 2025. That was £1 below the previous quarter but £4 above the equivalent period in 2024. Buildings-only cover and combined cover are different products, so their averages should not be treated as interchangeable benchmarks.

The ABI’s Property Insurance Premium Tracker analyses 15.5 million policies sold each year and records prices actually paid, rather than quotations. That distinction matters when comparing this release with a headline based on advertised or offered prices. A quoted price is an offer; the tracker measures the cost of policies that customers bought.

The background

In standard UK insurance terminology, buildings cover protects the structure of a home against insured damage, subject to the policy’s terms. Contents cover protects possessions, while a combined policy brings both types of protection together. Neither description means every cause of damage or every item is covered: exclusions and limits remain part of the contract.

The relevant type of cover depends partly on how a home is owned and occupied. A leaseholder’s buildings insurance is often arranged through the freeholder or managing agent, while a tenant generally arranges cover for their own possessions rather than the landlord’s building. Comparing either household’s contents needs with the ABI’s combined-policy average would therefore be misleading.

An average premium cannot show the full range of prices paid by different households. The reported ABI figures do not break down costs by postcode, property type, claims history or level of cover. Without that detail, the £391 figure cannot establish whether a particular house or flat was expensive to insure.

The building’s insured value also serves a different purpose from its sale price: buildings cover generally concerns the cost of rebuilding, subject to the policy wording. Property risks need separate attention, particularly where flooding is a concern. The issues explored in Aviva’s warning about insurance for new homes in flood-risk areas are distinct from movements in a market-wide premium average.

Read moreHome insurance after flooding costs £239 more a year in comparison study

What people are saying

The ABI’s reported figures point to broadly stable average prices during the second quarter of 2025. They do not amount to a promise that individual insurers held every customer’s premium steady. The source extract contains no named spokesperson’s comments explaining why prices moved so little, so it does not support attributing a cause to the change.

The ABI’s stated method puts completed purchases at the centre of its tracker. For a household reviewing a renewal, that makes the release useful as evidence of what customers paid across the policies analysed. It does not reveal what the same customer would have paid for identical cover from another insurer.

The quarterly and annual comparisons also answer different questions. In the ABI’s figures, combined cover became slightly cheaper than in the preceding quarter while remaining slightly dearer than a year earlier. Readers comparing other releases need to check both the measurement period and whether the data concern quotes or purchases, as discussed in our coverage of renewal quotes and annual insurance price changes.

The reported premium figures do not measure claims handling, repair times or the outcome of disputes. Those are separate considerations when assessing what a policy delivers after damage occurs. The LV= subsidence claim involving a family’s wait for rebuilding illustrates why the practical operation of cover deserves attention alongside its price.

What happens next

The supplied report contains no forecast for subsequent premiums and no announcement of a change to policy terms. It therefore provides no basis for predicting what a household will pay at its next renewal. Anyone assessing a price in October 2026 needs a current quotation rather than treating the spring 2025 average as today’s going rate.

For a useful renewal comparison, the cover being compared needs to match as closely as possible. Relevant details include the insured amounts, the excess payable on a claim, exclusions and any optional benefits. A lower headline premium alone does not establish that two policies provide equivalent protection.

Households should also distinguish the annual premium from the total payable under any instalment arrangement. The payment documents set out whether paying monthly adds a financing cost. The supplied ABI figures do not provide a separate breakdown of instalment charges, so the £391 average cannot answer that question for an individual policy.

A change in how a property is used can require a different insurance discussion from an ordinary renewal. Owners planning to rent out a former home need to check whether their existing cover remains suitable and what information the insurer requires. Our guide to insurance checks before letting a former home addresses that separate decision; the ABI’s reported figures do not provide a landlord-policy benchmark.

Why this matters

For homeowners budgeting for insurance, the ABI’s figures offer a dated reference point rather than a target price. The small changes in spring 2025 do not establish what any household should pay now, or whether a cheaper policy offers equivalent protection. Buyers, leaseholders and renters also need to identify which cover they actually require before comparing prices. A useful comparison starts with the right product, matching terms and a current quotation.