While everything is increasing, electricity, raw materials or even gasoline, home insurance prices continue to fall, indicates the 2022 home insurance barometer * produced by LeLynx.fr, an online insurance comparator. Price disparities exist according to regions, especially when they are more affected by bad weather, and cities.
Cheaper home insurance
Over the last 12 months, according to the LeLynx barometer, the average amounts of multi-risk home insurance decreased by 2.55% in 2021, to reach an average premium of €153 for the year.
They had already fallen by 8.7% in 2020. Which, in five years, represents a drop of 17%.
The arrival of “neo-insurance” on the market
According to Lynx.fr, this drop in home insurance prices can be explained by the arrival of “insuretchs”, these start-ups in the insurance sector which are shaking up the insurance market and forcing traditional insurers to line up, offering lower prices.
“New insurers, 100% online and with no physical branches, offer a completely dematerialized user experience with shorter processing times. The products offered are often more competitive but also less substantial,” emphasizes Itzal Arbide, head of LeLynx.fr.
How to pay less for your home insurance?
• Being a tenant! According to LeLynx.fr, tenants pay 50% less to insure their accommodation (with an average premium of around €114 per year) than owner-occupiers whose premium is €231 per year.
• Being a student! They are the only ones to go below the threshold of €100 to ensure their accommodation each year. While retirees pay more than double with an average premium of €190.
• Insure goods with a value of less than €15,000, the average premium being €128 per year for a home, while it rises to €353 per year on average for a house if the value of the equipment exceeds the €60,000.
• Equip your apartment or house with an alarm. “This makes it possible to reduce the amount of the premium”, remarks LeLynx.fr.
The generalization of teleworking
Teleworking has developed strongly with the health crisis. “This phenomenon in turn leads to a drop in claims: more presence at home, therefore fewer burglaries”, indicates LeLynx.fr.
Since 2020, burglaries have indeed decreased by 20%, according to the Ministry of the Interior. This reinforced presence at home also allows for faster handling of claims, thus limiting their impact (water damage, fire, etc.).
Disparities in prices depending on the region
If Brittany records for the second consecutive year the lowest home insurance premium (135 € per year), it is not the same thing in New Aquitaine, which pays the highest price with an average premium of €162 per year. The Southwest region is more prone to bad weather, with a higher loss rate than in other regions.
In the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (Paca) regions, the premium is also high with respectively €157.09 and €157.10 per year. The Grand Est also pays a high premium compared to Brittany with €154.96, as does Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes with €149.19.
Saint-Étienne, Strasbourg, Lyon, Grenoble: prices below the national average
If we look at the cities, Paris is registering record amounts: you have to pay an average of €2.90 per m² to insure your accommodation. The inhabitants of Saint-Étienne pay half the price for their insurance (€1.80 per m² for an average premium of €113 per year). The average surfaces of insured households are also larger, reaching more than 60 m² for Stéphanois, compared to 47 m² for Ile-de-France residents.
In Strasbourg and Grenoble, you have to pay €2 per m² for respectively an average insured area of 59 m² (with an average premium of €114.71 per year) and an average insured area of 55 m² (with an average premium of €112 per year),
While in Lyon, you have to spend €2.20 per m² for an average insured area of 57 m² (with an average premium of €123.99 per year).
* Results obtained on a sample of 224,480 home insurance premiums clicked by LeLynx.fr users from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021.
Global warming: will the cost of home insurance increase?
Drought in the South of France causing cracks in homes, bad weather… According to the French Insurance Federation (France Assureurs), the hailstorms, which affected many French regions between June 2 and 5, have caused 258,000 claims for an estimated cost of 940 million euros, including 410 million euros for homes.
Similar events had already caused between May 20 and May 23 93,000 claims at a cost of 323 million euros.
According to insurers, the cost of climatic claims should almost double by 2050, estimated at 143 billion euros.
The prices of home insurance are therefore likely to rise: they could increase by 130 to 200% over the next 30 years, i.e. an increase of 2.8 to 3.7% each year, indicates the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR), a body belonging to the Banque de France.