Building insurance in Australia
Building insurance rebuilds your home if it's damaged or destroyed. Here's what it covers, what moves the price, how much to insure for, and how to compare a quote — from real Cover Club data.
Building insurance, by the numbers
How we get these numbers: sums insured and rates drawn from real quotes run across our panel of insurers for representative homes, refreshed June 2026. The per-$100k rate is the cheapest band in our data; building-only premiums are usually a little lower than combined home cover. Indicative only.
What is building insurance?
Building insurance — also called home or house insurance — covers the physical structure of your home against insured events like fire, storm, flood and impact. If the worst happens, it pays to repair or fully rebuild, less your excess.
It covers more than just the house itself:
Building vs contents vs combined
Building covers the structure; contents covers your belongings inside; combined home & contents bundles both. Owner-occupiers usually combine; landlords and some unit owners take building-only.
What makes a home cost more to rebuild
A building premium tracks what it would cost to rebuild the structure — so the materials it's built from, the roof over it and the era it went up all move the price, before location is even counted. Across 151,073 homeswe've quoted, here's how the building itself shifts the typical price.
Sum insured — your rebuild cost
The single biggest building-specific lever. Bigger rebuilds cost more in total, but less per $100k of cover (shown after the · ).
- Under $300k$1,638· $985/100k
- $300k–500k$1,489· $473/100k
- $500k–750k$1,981· $428/100k
- $750k–1m$2,679· $394/100k
- $1m+$3,848· $379/100k
Wall material
What you'd rebuild in: brick is quoted cheapest; timber and combustible cladding cost more.
- Double brick$2,394
- Brick veneer$2,497
- Hebel$2,572
- Vinyl cladding$2,690
- Aluminium$2,815
- Hardiplank / fibre cement$2,886
- Other$2,996
- Weatherboard / timber$3,069
- Fibro / asbestos$3,192
- Concrete$3,401
Roof type
Tiled roofs tend to be quoted lowest across our panel.
- Tiles$2,297
- Concrete$2,461
- Other$2,580
- Steel/Colorbond$2,922
- Asbestos$3,292
- Slate$3,318
Decade built
Older homes cost more to rebuild to current codes, so they're generally quoted higher.
- Pre-1950$2,807
- 1950s$2,545
- 1960s$2,463
- 1970s$2,525
- 1980s$2,780
- 1990s$2,739
- 2000s$2,774
- 2010s$2,522
- 2020s$2,167
Median annual building premium across our panel, from 733,483 real Cover Club quotes (2025-03-03 to 2026-07-20). These are correlations, not causes — homes differ on more than one factor at once (a weatherboard cottage is often also older and elsewhere). Indicative only; your price depends on your home and its rebuild cost. Bars with fewer than 50 quotes are excluded.
How much building insurance do you need?
Insure your building for its full rebuild cost— not its market value, and not your mortgage. The two are very different: market value includes the land (which doesn't need rebuilding), while rebuild cost includes things buyers never think about.
A proper rebuild figure includes:
Underinsuring the building is one of the most common and costly mistakes Australians make — a shortfall only shows up at claim time, when it's too late. Use a sum-insured calculator, and review the figure at every renewal as building costs rise.
How to compare a building insurance quote
- 1
Enter your address
We pre-fill what we can about the property, so there's less for you to type.
- 2
Confirm a few details
Construction, rough rebuild value and the cover you want — building only, or building plus contents.
- 3
Compare across our panel
See competitive prices from a panel of insurers side by side, in minutes.
- 4
Choose and you’re covered
Pick the policy that fits; our brokers are here if you want a hand.
Building insurance FAQs
Is building insurance compulsory in Australia?
No, it isn't required by law. But if you have a mortgage, your lender will almost always require building insurance as a condition of the loan — and few owners could afford to rebuild a home out of pocket, so most insure regardless.
What's the difference between building and contents insurance?
Building (home) insurance covers the physical structure — walls, roof, floors, fixed fittings like kitchens and bathrooms, plus features such as garages, sheds, fencing and in-ground pools. Contents insurance covers your belongings inside. Owner-occupiers usually combine both; landlords and some unit owners take building-only.
How much building insurance cover do I need?
Insure for the full rebuild cost — not the market value or your mortgage. Rebuild cost includes demolition, debris removal, council and permit fees, and professional costs, on top of construction. Underinsuring the building is one of the most common and costly mistakes; review the figure at every renewal as building costs change.
Can I get building-only insurance without contents?
Yes. Building-only cover suits landlords (whose tenants insure their own contents), some unit owners, and anyone whose belongings are covered separately. You can add contents later if your situation changes.
Does building insurance cover floods, storms and fire?
Fire (including bushfire) and storm are standard insured events on virtually every building policy, and flood is now included as standard on most. What varies is how each is defined and how steeply it's priced for higher-risk addresses — always check the PDS.
How long does a building insurance quote take?
Minutes. Enter your address, confirm a few property details (we pre-fill what we can), and compare prices across our panel of insurers online — no call required.
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