Building insurance in Australia: what each policy covers
For a house or a rental property: how each policy values the building (a sum insured you choose, a buffer above it, or total replacement), whether flood and accidental damage are covered, and what happens once the building is left empty. For strata, commercial and industrial policies, the same where their documents state it, and who each policy is for. 172 policies from 78 Australian brands, each read from the insurer's own documents, and each naming the insurer that issues it.
Houses and rental properties
Home building, landlord and prestige home policies: the building of a house the owner lives in or rents out, bought by the owner, mostly direct.
Apartment and unit buildings (strata)
Residential and commercial strata policies: the building of an apartment, unit or commercial strata scheme, insured by its owners corporation (body corporate), not by each owner, almost always through a broker or the strata manager.
Business premises and property owners
Business packs that insure the building a business owns or occupies, and property owners' policies for landlords of shops, offices and factories. Most are sold through brokers.
Factories, warehouses and large property (ISR)
Industrial Special Risks (ISR): one all-risks policy for buildings, plant and stock at large and industrial sites, sold through brokers to businesses above a minimum total sum insured.
Who underwrites them
The brand on a policy is often a bank, a supermarket, a motoring club or an underwriting agency, and the company that pays the claim is someone else. Every policy above names its underwriter; the 32 underwriters, each matched to APRA's list of registered general insurers, and the brands each one stands behind are on the underwriters page.
Questions
What do "sum insured", "buffer" and "total replacement" mean?
- Sum insured: you choose the most the insurer will pay to rebuild. If rebuilding costs more, the difference is yours.
- Sum insured plus a buffer: the insurer will pay up to a set percentage above your sum insured if rebuilding costs more than you chose.
- Sum insured, optional buffer: a sum insured, with a buffer ("safety net") you can add for a price.
- Choice of basis: the documents offer more than one way to value the building, such as a sum insured or total replacement.
- Total replacement: the insurer rebuilds the home whatever it costs, with no sum insured, subject to the policy's conditions.
What happens if the building is left empty?
Most policies change once nobody has lived in the building for a stated number of days in a row: an extra excess, some events no longer covered, or no cover at all. Each segment page shows the rule for every policy, and each brand's page has the sentence it comes from and what counts as lived in.
Who actually pays if I claim?
The underwriter: the insurer named in the Product Disclosure Statement as the issuer of the policy. A bank, supermarket or motoring club selling home insurance is usually the distributor, and an underwriting agency writes policies on an insurer's behalf. Each brand's page here names its underwriter and quotes the sentence from its own documents that says so.
How do I check an insurer is allowed to insure me?
Insurers that write home and business insurance in Australia are authorised by APRA, or are Lloyd's underwriters, which APRA authorises as a class; DSH Insurance, for veterans, is a government scheme instead. Every underwriter on this page is matched to APRA's list of registered general insurers, and to ASIC's licence register on its AFS licence number.
Why is my insurer missing?
These are the brands found and checked so far, not a guarantee that no other exists. If one is missing or wrong, tell us with Comment at the foot of this page.
38 names checked and left out, and why
- 1st for Women, Retirease, Best Buy InsuranceTheir own sites say they no longer take new customers. Checked
- AAMI, Suncorp, GIO, NRMA commercial strataTheir strata policies are for residential strata only. Checked
- AchmeaFarm insurance only (its All-in-One Farm Pack); no residential, commercial or industrial building policy. Checked
- AIG Private Client SelectAIG's Australian site shows no personal home insurance product. Checked
- Allied World (direct)Its Australian pages cover construction and casualty only; it underwrites Clover's business pack, listed under Clover. Checked
- Aussie, Maxxia, View InsuranceOnly legacy home documents remain on Auto & General's document page; no current home product page. Checked
- Australia Post InsuranceIts insurance page returns 404 and only legacy (2021) home documents remain. Checked
- Auswide Bank, G&C Mutual Bank, GMCU, Hume BankListed as Allianz partner codes, with no current document set or page of their own found.
- Bank Australia, Macquarie Bank, Bupa, MedibankNo home insurance product found on their own sites. Checked
- BeazleyIts Australian pages do not name the insurer that issues its property policies.
- Bingle, Swann Insurance, Lumley Special VehiclesVehicle insurance only; no building cover. Checked
- Brooklyn Underwriting, Express InsuranceNo current strata product found.
- CGU commercial property (direct)CGU stopped selling new business insurance direct on 21 May 2026; its business policies are sold through brokers (listed under CGU). Checked
- CGU home and landlord (direct)CGU stopped selling new home and landlord insurance direct on 27 June 2025; it is available through partners such as ANZ and Bendigo Bank, listed here. Checked
- CGU residential strataCGU stopped offering new residential strata policies on 30 May 2022. Checked
- Coverforce, Insurance Choice, Insurance HQ, BizCoverInsurance brokers, not insurers or underwriting agencies. Checked
- Credit Union SA, Police Bank, Qudos BankAllianz partner brands whose own insurance pages did not respond or returned 404. Checked
- DUAL Australia, EmergenceNo property, business pack or landlord product on their own sites. Checked
- Great Lakes Insurance (Munich Re)Munich Re sold its Australian primary business; the portfolios went into run-off in 2020. Checked
- HDI GlobalIts site refused both plain and browser requests, so no product could be read (HDI appears as a panel insurer under Axis). Checked
- Kogan Insurance, Newcastle PermanentTheir sites refused both plain and browser requests, so their home insurance and underwriter could not be read. Checked
- Mansions of AustraliaIts site returned only a placeholder page, so nothing could be read. Checked
- Markel, Aspen, Starr, AssetinsureNo Australian property or ISR product found on their own sites. Checked
- Pacific International Insurance (PD Insurance)Vehicle, pet and liability products only; no property cover. Checked
- ProcoverIts site only redirects to Miramar Group; no strata product found. Checked
- QBE strataQBE's strata policies are sold only through CHU, listed under CHU. Checked
- RAC WA small business insuranceNow issued through Evari Insure, and its page describes no buildings cover. Checked
- RACQ, Budget Direct business insuranceNeither sells business insurance. Checked
- RACQ, Elders strataNo strata or body corporate product on their own sites. Checked
- ROLLiN'The brand's domain is now a parked page; no product could be found. Checked
- SGIO and SGICMerged into NRMA Insurance in 2022; their sites now redirect to NRMA Insurance. Checked
- SompoIts Australian property business names no Australian insurer, ABN or licence on its own pages. Checked
- Suncorp business insuranceSuncorp Group's small business insurance is sold as AAMI Business and GIO Business, listed under AAMI and GIO. Checked
- Swiss Re Corporate SolutionsNo Australian property page, wording or eligibility on its own site. Checked
- The Barn Underwriting Agency, One UnderwritingNo public wording, TMD or readable property product found. Checked
- Tokio Marine Management (Australasia)Its Australian agency site lists corporate, cyber, travel and motor products only. Checked
- WFI commercial strataClosed to new policies on 16 May 2025. Checked
- Youi small business insuranceCovers business contents and stock only; its PDS says it does not insure buildings. Checked
How this is built
- Policies, what they cover and who underwrites them are read by hand from each brand's and insurer's own Product Disclosure Statement, Key Facts Sheet, Target Market Determination and product pages, never from a comparison site. Every fact on a brand's page has the sentence it came from and a link to it, and those sentences are re-read daily so a change is caught.
- Each underwriter is matched to APRA's list of registered general insurers by name, and to ASIC's licence register on its AFS licence number; the register's name and ABN are then checked against the brand's documents.
- Brands were found from insurers' own lists of their products and distributors, and comparison sites and industry lists were checked for names only. Nothing on this page is taken from them.
- Premiums are not shown: they depend on the building, its address and its sum insured, and change at every renewal.
Deep Almanac is a secondary source and this page is provided for general information and reference. It is not financial, investment, legal, valuation, educational or other professional advice, and it is not a substitute for checking the original source. What each policy covers and who underwrites it are read from each insurer's own documents by hand and re-checked daily, so a change can take a day to appear, and the policy wording you are issued is what applies to you. You are responsible for any decision you or your software makes in reliance on this page. See our terms of use.