New Zealand’s high susceptibility to natural hazards and a spending boom in residential and infrastructure construction will force the country’s general insurance market to grow significantly over the next few years.

Analytics firm GlobalData says the New Zealand market will grow to $NZ10.9 billion ($10.2 billion) in 2023, from $NZ8.4 billion ($7.86 billion) last year.

Gross written premium in the country’s general insurance market registered a compound annual growth rate of 10.3% during 2014-18, the study says.

Property, motor and personal accident and health insurance have been the major growth drivers, with property insurance representing 42% of gross written premium in 2018, bolstered by residential construction.

The Government-owned KiwiBuild program plans to invest $NZ2 billion ($1.87 billion) during 2018–2020.

Natural hazards resulted in an insured loss of $NZ468.9 million ($438.86 million) during 2017–2018, the Insurance Council of New Zealand reported.

In the same period IAG, Vero and Tower announced plans to rationalise the underwriting of new policies in high-risk areas.