How much home building insurance do I need?
It’s essential to have home building insurance in place to protect your home against unforeseen circumstances such as fire, storm and flood. You should ensure you select a sum insured amount that’s adequate to cover the rebuilding costs.
What’s home building insurance?
Home building insurance – also known as home insurance – covers the structure of a property. This includes your home, outbuildings such as sheds, plus any permanently attached fixtures including gates and fences on your property. Home building insurance alone doesn’t cover the contents of your home such as personal belongings, furniture and appliances. Australia Post Home Insurance covers a range of events as standard, including:
- Fire and explosion
- Storm, storm surge, rain, hail or flood
- Earthquake or tsunami
- Lightning
- Theft and burglary
- Vandalism or malicious damage
- Collision
- Escape of liquid
Are there optional extras?
There are several events not covered in a standard home insurance policy. Some of these may be offered as optional extras, where you pay extra to cover additional events. At Australia Post, accidental damage can be added to your home and contents policy, and portable contents can be added if you’ve taken contents cover.
Get great value home, contents or landlord insurance
Because we reckon affordable, quality cover is something every Australian deserves.
How much should I insure my house for?
You should insure your building for the amount it would cost to replace the structure(s) on your property if they were destroyed. If you’re unsure of how to estimate the cost of a rebuild, consult with your provider. An experienced provider can assist you in working out approximately how much to insure your house for, including costs you may not have thought about such as demolition, removing debris from your property, and for professionals such as surveyors and architects. The amount you insure your home for is often called your ’sum insured’ and this amount will differ depending on a range of variables such as the materials your home is made of, your location and size of your home.
What’s contents insurance?
Contents insurance provides protection for your belongings at your home. This generally includes items such as laptops, tablets, TVs, white goods, clothing, jewellery, musical instruments, and furniture. Contents insurance can also extend to covering things away from home like your engagement ring. This may be covered as part of your standard policy, or it may be an optional extra. Read any relevant policy documents or talk to your provider to understand what is and isn’t covered.
Often you can combine contents insurance with your home insurance so that both your building and belongings can be protected in unforeseen circumstances such as fire, theft or storm.
Australia Post’s home and contents insurance is flexible so you can upgrade your policy with optional extras, choose from different payment options and a range of excesses.
Australia Post home and motor insurance is issued and underwritten by QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited (ABN 78 003 191 035, AFSL 239545) (QBE). Australian Postal Corporation (ABN 28 864 970 579, AR No: 338646) is an authorised representative of Australia Post Services Pty Limited (ABN 67 002 599 340, AFSL 457551) which is acting (under its own AFSL) on behalf of QBE. Any advice provided is general only and has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs and may not be right for you. To decide if this product is right for you, please read the relevant Combined Financial Services Guide and Product Disclosure Statement, and Target Market Determination. Any reference to value and competitiveness refers to an average market segment and may not include your specific circumstances.
