Townsville homeowners have been stung by huge increase in home insurance fees

A retired Townsville couple were horrified to open their latest home insurance bill to see it had doubled, asking how residents already struggling with the cost of living are expected to get by.

Annandale resident David Kirkpatrick's home insurance bills have skyrocketed. Picture: Shae Beplate.

A retired Townsville couple were horrified to open their latest home insurance bill to see it had doubled, asking how residents already struggling with the cost of living are expected to get by.

Former airline captain David Kirkpatrick had just returned from a holiday with his wife to see his annual premium for his house of $3800 had jumped to $7600.

“My heart sank. I thought bloody hell, how are we expected to pay that,” the empty nester said.

Confused by the sudden jump, the Annandale homeowner contacted his insurance company and asked if it was a mistake.

“They said it was new modelling. We didn’t get flooded in 2019 and we’ve only ever done a small claim for fence, garden and pool damage,” he said.

“The woman on the phone said they could lower the amount of insurance we wanted and up the excess and that would bring it down a bit. That only saved us 1500 bucks.”

Annandale resident David Kirkpatrick's home insurance bills have skyrocketed. Picture: Shae Beplate.

The Kirkpatricks spent weeks looking for alternatives and hit a lot of roadblocks due to “our location” being North Queensland.

“It got me thinking if we can’t insure the house, can we sell it? Mortgage holders have to have insurance,” he said.

“I had seen ads on TV for a company that specialises in North Queensland. I spoke to my neighbour whose house did flood and she said she had swapped over to this company.

“Went online with and checked it out and I got our old price back for our old amount and excess.”

“The message is shop around.”

A fellow Townsville resident, who does not wish to be named, said she was outraged when her insurance also doubled.

Regularly paying $5270 per year, she was recently quoted more than $10,000.

“I ripped the quote up because I was so disgusted by it. I was so annoyed,” the Idalia resident said.

“I did ring up the insurance company and asked what was going on. They said it was because of all the associated risks and crime profile of where we lived. I said that seemed like a bit over the top.”

She and her partner lost their home and most of its contents in the 2019 floods.

“The insurer we had during the floods we did change after because it did go up and we couldn’t afford it,” she said.

“We then swapped providers to one that our bank recommended and it’s still high compared to everywhere else in the country.”

“We talked to friends down south and friends up in Cairns and they were horrified by the price we told them.”

Hoping to retire soon, the resident said she simply couldn’t afford to pay $10,000 a year for insurance.

“We allow for some increase, maybe 5 per cent but certainly not 100 per cent,” she said.

“There was no justification. The challenge then was that we spent three days looking for a new insurer.”

She says she’s saddened by how others will afford higher insurance premiums having already been burdened by the cost of living crisis.

“We have a lot of young families in our area, a lot of military families as it’s close to base and it makes me worried for them as to how they will pay those costs too,” she said.

“Not everyone has time to take several days out and find a better deal. People have to work, take care of kids. To do the work on your own to find a better deal takes up time and can be confusing and overwhelming.”

Originally published as Townsville homeowners have been stung by huge increase in home insurance fees