Home Insurance Claims: Subsidence Hits a Record High

What do the latest home insurance claims figures show?

Home insurance claims are costing insurers more than ever, even though fewer claims are being made. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) published its latest Property Insurance Tracker on 2 November 2026, covering July, August and September.

The ABI says the average home and business insurance payout reached a record £10,000 for the quarter. The number of home and business claims fell by 4% to 142,000, but the total paid out rose by 1% to £1.5 billion.

The ABI puts the rise down to higher repair costs, including materials and labour, and more severe weather causing bigger losses. This is information, not advice: nothing here tells you which policy to buy.

One note on sourcing. The ABI’s own release of these figures did not open for us on 5 November 2026, so every figure below is taken from two trade reports of the same release, published on 2 November 2026 by Insurance Business UK and Insurance Age. Both are listed at the foot of this article.

Why are subsidence claims at a record?

Subsidence is the headline. ABI members received 13,000 new domestic subsidence claims between July and September, against 8,000 in the same quarter of 2025. The ABI says that is the highest number on record.

The ABI links this to the weather. The Met Office has provisionally identified 2026 as the hottest UK summer on record, and prolonged hot, dry spells raise the risk of ground movement.

The average payout for subsidence damage to a home stayed at a record £20,000 for the second quarter running, according to the ABI. Subsidence claims can take months to settle, so the number opened will not match the number paid in the same quarter.

What do other home insurance claims cost on average?

The ABI figures show that the most severe home insurance claims stayed expensive over the summer. These are averages, so any single claim can come in far higher or lower.

• Fire: an average domestic claim of £38,000, the third highest quarterly level on record.
• Flood: an average domestic claim of £28,000, the second most expensive of the three perils below.
• Subsidence: an average of £20,000, matching the record set the quarter before.

It helps to remember that these are what insurers paid out, not what a policy costs. Home insurance claims and premiums are separate figures, and they do not always move together.

The ABI’s average of £10,000 also covers business property, so it is not a pure home figure. The peril figures above are the domestic ones. When you read about home insurance claims in the news, it is worth checking which of the two a number refers to.

What are the warning signs of subsidence?

The ABI lists several signs of subsidence and says homeowners who notice any of them should speak to their insurer and seek professional advice. The signs it gives are:

• Cracks wider than 3mm, about the thickness of a £1 coin, which may need further investigation.
• Diagonal cracks, especially ones that are wider at the top than at the bottom.
• Cracks that appear suddenly, rather than building up gradually through normal wear and tear.
• Doors and windows that suddenly stick, and wallpaper that wrinkles or tears with no obvious cause.

A hairline crack is common in many homes and is not always a sign of anything serious. Telling the difference is a job for a professional, which is why the ABI points people to their insurer first.

What is the average home insurance premium?

The ABI says the average annual home insurance premium for the third quarter of 2026 was £329. That is the same as a year earlier, and £4 more than in the previous quarter.

For combined buildings and contents policies, the ABI puts the average at £389, which is £3 more than a year ago. Buildings only cover averaged £310, down £13 on the year, and contents only averaged £118, down £7.

These are averages of what customers paid across about 15.5 million policies sold a year, not quotes. Your own price depends on your address, the type and age of your home, the cover you choose and your claims history, so it can sit well above or below the average.

Notice the gap between the two sets of numbers. Home insurance claims hit records while the average premium stayed flat on the year, so the cost of claims has not yet shown up in the average price. Whether it will is something the ABI does not say, and we would not guess.

What can you check on your own home insurance?

The latest home insurance claims data is a prompt to read your own policy, not a reason to panic. A few checks cost nothing and take minutes.

Most people set their cover up once and let it renew. That is the Do-Nothing Default again, and with home insurance claims running this high it is a decent moment to see what your cover actually says.

Look at what your policy says about subsidence, flood and fire, and what your excess is for each. An excess is the amount you pay towards a claim before the insurer pays the rest, and it can differ by type of damage.

It is also worth checking that your buildings sum insured reflects the cost of rebuilding your home, since the ABI points to rising repair costs. If you are not sure what a term means, your insurer or broker can explain it. Our guides on boiler cover and car insurance renewal cover similar ground for other policies, and our phone insurance guide explains how that cover works.

Frequently asked questions about home insurance claims

Sources

• Insurance Business UK, UK property insurance claims hit record £10,000 average as subsidence surges, 2 November 2026. Supports the £10,000 average payout, 142,000 claims down 4%, £1.5 billion paid out up 1%, the 13,000 and 8,000 subsidence claim counts, the £20,000 subsidence average, the £38,000 fire and £28,000 flood averages, the £329, £389, £310 and £118 premium figures, and the Met Office provisionally identifying 2026 as the hottest UK summer on record.
• Insurance Age, Subsidence claims volume hits record level in Q3, 2 November 2026. Independently confirms the 13,000 record subsidence claims, the 8,000 in the same quarter of 2025 and the £20,000 record average payout.
• ABI, Average claim for subsidence reaches record £20,000 amidst hot weather. The ABI’s previous Property Insurance Tracker release, which supports the subsidence warning signs and the tracker covering about 15.5 million policies sold a year.

Checked 5 November 2026. The ABI’s own release of the third quarter figures did not open for us, so those figures are as reported by the two trade titles above rather than read on the ABI’s site.