What makes for outstanding value landlord insurance in 2022?

Like many industries in Australia, landlord insurance has faced tough challenges in recent times thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, with the many changes that have occurred in that time, what does outstanding value landlord insurance look like in 2022?

In the early stages of the pandemic, with many Aussies out of work and struggling to make ends meet, the federal and state governments announced various initiatives such as eviction moratoriums that made it challenging for the landlord insurance industry to operate as it had up to that point.

This seismic shift meant that many providers withdrew cover in the early stages of the pandemic, while others announced that they were unable to offer new policies thanks to the economic challenges presented by the new state of affairs.

Finally, the industry is returning to a sense of normality, and as such, for the first time since 2019, Canstar is announcing its Landlord Insurance Star Ratings and Awards winners. While much has changed in the industry, several winners have carried over since we last handed out the Award.

How were the Landlord Insurance Award winners decided?

Canstar has assessed 58 landlord insurance products from 47 providers on our database. Based on this analysis, Canstar has recognised three providers for providing outstanding value to customers around different parts of Australia, with two of these providers being recognised as overall National Award winners.

When deciding on the winners for the 2022 Awards, Canstar weighted the price and features of each policy as equal considerations. The price component considers the annual and monthly premiums for a product, along with a portion of the excess. Policies with the lowest overall cost are awarded the highest score.

The features component considers features within six different categories: building cover, contents cover, accidental breakage, events cover (including for floods and storms), liability cover, and landlord cover (including for malicious damage, theft by a tenant and loss of rent due to default).

To earn a 5-Star Rating and to be eligible for an Award, a policy and its provider must provide cover for at least one of:

theft or burglary by tenants or their guests,
malicious damage or vandalism by tenants or their guests, or
loss of rent due to tenant default.

For more information on how Canstar’s Landlord Insurance Star Ratings and Awards are determined, view the methodology report.

Which providers won?

Despite the major changes to the industry in the past several years, two of Canstar’s Award-winning providers from 2019 carried over, with both ANZ and Suncorp picking up the National Award. An Award was also given out for eight states or regions of Australia, including two separate Awards for Queensland (Rockhampton and all areas south) and North Queensland (all areas north of Rockhampton). The New South Wales Award referred to below also included policies in the Australian Capital Territory.

Outstanding Value – Australia: ANZ and Suncorp

Outstanding Value – New South Wales: ANZ

Outstanding Value – Northern Territory: ANZ

Outstanding Value – North Queensland: Terri Scheer

Outstanding Value – Queensland: Suncorp

Outstanding Value – South Australia: Suncorp

Outstanding Value – Tasmania: Suncorp

Outstanding Value – Victoria: Suncorp

Outstanding Value – Western Australia: Suncorp

Before committing to a particular landlord insurance policy, it could be worth reviewing our latest results in full and checking with the provider to confirm what the policy includes and how much it is likely to cost.

Cover image source: Elle Aon/Shutterstock.com.

About Canstar’s Research team

Canstar’s Research team provides the expertise that powers our Star Ratings and Awards, designed to help consumers make better-informed financial decisions. As Australia’s biggest financial comparison site, Canstar researches and rates products from more than 780 brands, across more than 30 finance categories. Our expert researchers analyse each product we rate by comparing price and features, with the top products being recognised with a 5-Star Rating. Our Star Ratings are made available for consumers to view for free via Canstar’s comparison tables. Providers whose products perform strongly in our Star Ratings may be recognised with an Outstanding Value Award.

→ Discover Canstar’s latest Star Ratings and Award winners

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This article was reviewed by our Sub Editor Tom Letts and Sub Editor Jacqueline Belesky before it was updated, as part of our fact-checking process.

Alasdair Duncan

Senior Finance Journalist

Alasdair Duncan is a Senior Finance Journalist at Canstar, specialising in home loans, property and lifestyle topics. He has written more than 200 articles for Canstar and his work is widely referenced by other publishers and media outlets, including Yahoo Finance, The New Daily, The Motley Fool and Sky News. He has featured as a guest author for property website homely.com.au.

In his more than 15 years working in the media, Alasdair has written for a broad range of publications. Before joining Canstar, he was a News Editor at Pedestrian.TV, part of Australia’s leading youth media group. His work has also appeared on ABC News, Junkee, Rolling Stone, Kotaku, the Sydney Star Observer and The Brag. He has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Journalism from the University of Queensland.

When he is not writing about finance for Canstar, Alasdair can probably be found at the beach with his two dogs or listening to podcasts about pop music. You can follow Alasdair on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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