Can My Address Impact My Home Insurance Premium – And Why?

Caeva O'Callaghan | June 8th, 2023

Where you live can greatly impact your home insurance premium. In fact, from your region to your town, postcode and even your street, your area matters. Why this is the case isn’t always obvious, but there’s sound logical reasoning behind it.

We’re here to answer your questions, including:

Kirsty and Phil had it right when they said “location, location, location” – it matters. Read on to discover why it might be that where you live is driving up the cost of home insurance.

Why does my address matter?

Insurance companies don’t just ask for your eircode so they can send you papers to sign. They need to know if your area is high-risk. This is the result of various calculations performed by insurance actuaries – the statisticians who crunch the numbers and calculate the probabilities of claims.

These numbers determine if your property is likely to be damaged by theft, flood, subsidence, or anything else.

Home insurance companies use geographical information and crime stats as well as other information related to your property to calculate risk.

After you start to enter your address in our quotation engine, a list of similar addresses pops up and you are asked to choose which address exactly matches your home. This is because even just one end of a street can have a higher risk than the other.

Geographical or environmental risks

Insurance companies do their best to predict geographical and environmental risk, and sometimes this can be narrowed down to just one section of the street. The biggest risk to houses is flood and subsidence.

Let’s say – for example – that 45 houses share a street address near the seafront in Bray, Co Wicklow.  However, only one part of the road is prone to flooding. On this street, households within a stone’s throw of each other will potentially have different insurance with or without flood cover.

Your individual circumstances also matter. For example, if you live 250 metres from a canal, flood cover may be automatically excluded. However, by exact matching your address, insurance companies will be able to see if your property has ever flooded in the past. If not, this will work in your favour when getting an insurance policy that includes flood cover.

On a national scale, some insurers may not cover properties in certain parts of the west of Ireland due to the risk of storm damage.

Always talk to an agent, and reveal your exact address as soon as possible to get matched with the best product at the lowest cost.

Crime statistics may affect how much you pay

Of course, the threat of break-ins and burglary also play a role in determining how much you pay for home insurance.

If you live in a high-risk area for crime, you may pay more for your home insurance than a street that is comparatively a lower risk. It’s unfortunately the cost of keeping your property and loved ones safe.

Having a Neighbourhood Watch in your area can lower your premiums by as much as 5%. And it’s important to remember that living in a rural area doesn’t automatically make your valuables safer.  Burglaries, theft of equipment, agri-vehicles and even livestock are real problems in the countryside.

Burglaries increase in the winter months, as do other instances of theft. You should install a home alarm system, but it’s best to consult your insurance provider beforehand to ensure the system will help reduce your premiums. Certain systems can get you a discount on your home insurance premium.

Other factors also play a part

Ultimately, it all depends on the type of claims that have occurred in your area or your individual property. Crime plays a big part, and so does geography and previous weather events, but when it comes to other factors you may be surprised.

Tall trees in close proximity to your home or a stream in or running adjacent to your garden may also impact on your premium.

All in all, your address matters more than you think. Where your home is located will have the biggest impact on how much you pay for your home insurance, and what cover you’ll be eligible to receive.

Talk to the team at QuoteMe.ie with any of your House Insurance questions.

One of the key benefits of using the services of an insurance broker for your home insurance is that you can consult us with any questions you have regarding your home insurance policies and get immediate advice from a certified trained professional. So, if you have any queries regarding your address and how it may affect your home insurance, please call us on 0818 224433 or 042 9359051.

You can also get a home insurance quote with us directly online. We compare 12 Insurers in the Irish market to get you the right cover for your individual circumstances.  We look forward to hearing from you soon.


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All Information in this post is accurate as of the date of publishing.