NQ residents rocked by insurance premiums increases up to 73%

North Queensland residents are being asked to pay up to 73 per cent more for property insurance.

North Queensland residents are facing another round of big property insurance premium hikes as more insurers leave the market and building and reinsurance costs soar.

One resident Michael Kopittke, confronted with a 51 per cent increase by Suncorp, questioned whether the insurer wanted to leave the market.

He said if the increases were across the board, a huge amount of cash was being stripped from the economy, particularly hitting businesses relying on discretionary spending.

“Why can’t the Queensland Government take the stamp duty off?” Mr Kopittke asked.

The state takes 9 per cent in duty, while the feds take 10 per cent on top for the GST.

Townsville resident Michael Kopittke says Suncorp increased his annual insurance bill 51 per cent despite not making a claim for the past 10 years.

Mr Kopittke swapped to Sure Insurance, saving $1300, though still paying a small increase.

Another Townsville resident John Casey said he was asked by Suncorp company Vero to pay a 73 per cent increase on his home insurance.

He believed he may be getting stung by map changes putting him in a flood zone, even though he said he was “mowing my yard” when the unprecedented 2019 floods occurred.

He took a 30 per cent premium hit moving to another Suncorp brand Shannon’s.

Suncorp announced last year that Vero was withdrawing from consumer and construction markets with CEO Steve Johnston saying they had been “sub-optimal” for some time.

Last August the company reported a 131 per cent profit hike to $1.06bn.

Suncorp CEO Steve Johnston says consumer markets were sub-optimal for Vero.

A Suncorp spokeswoman said they had seen an increase in both natural hazards and reinsurance costs, impacting premiums.

“Another factor which contributes to higher premiums is stamp duty and GST, both calculated as a percentage of the technical premium,” the spokeswoman said.

Sure Insurance managing director Bradley Heath estimated they had saved people, mostly in Townsville and Cairns, $100 million since launching just over two years ago.

Sure Insurance managing director Bradley Heath says they have saved consumers $100m in premium costs since launching about two years ago.

As for why premiums were rising, Mr Heath said building and reinsurance costs had increased though not to the extent of a 50 per cent premium hike.

“I think the issue nowadays is when insurance companies put prices up they do it at a granular level, usually targeting different things,” he said.

One source said widespread 20 to 40 per cent premium rises were occurring.

The source said IAG brand IAL was leaving the market, QBE was declining quotes in flood areas in the Burdekin, and Idalia, sunk in the 2019 floods, was “quite insurable”.

“The only thing consistent is inconsistency,” the source said.

Originally published as NQ residents rocked by insurance premiums increases up to 73%