In 2021, 73% of consumers said they owned any type of home insurance, which is marginally up on the percentage in 2019. When taking out home insurance consumers show a preference for combined contents and buildings insurance and they prefer to buy standalone policies: relatively few own home insurance policies as part of a multicover insurance or which came with a packaged bank account.
A new customer journey begins each year. Each year, over 90% of combined buildings and contents home insurance policyholders are existing policyholders and their choice comes down to either renewing with an existing provider (around half renew each year) or switching from one provider to another (around four-in-ten switch each year). For contents only and building only insurance a greater proportion of policyholders embarking on a new customer journey each year are new market entrants – i.e., buying home insurance for the first time. Even if renewing, policyholders generally still embark on a new customer journey: over eight-in-ten of policyholders owning combined cover who renew still search for alternatives policies and/or negotiate for a revised deal from their provider before they agree to renew.
