ANZ, AAMI and CommInsure provide the best-value home and contents insurance, according to annual ratings by financial services research group Canstar.

The outstanding value award for home insurance was given jointly to ANZ and CommInsure, while AAMI and CommInsure shared first place in the contents insurance and home and contents insurance categories.

Canstar Research Manager Chris Groth says the results are not unexpected. “The Commonwealth Bank, now CommInsure, has been a national winner in every one of the five annual star ratings we have conducted.

“ANZ can now claim to have won this honour three times, while AAMI is a two-time winner.”

The three insurers also took top place in every state category except SA, where RAA was judged to have the best-value contents insurance.

The ratings compare prices and features for 41 insurers and 104 policies using 16,000 individual quotes across the six states and territories.

Canstar also found premium increases at renewals across the board, particularly in disaster-hit north Queensland and northern WA.

Premiums for home insurance in Queensland rose an average of 29% on a $300,000 house and 34% on a $500,000 house.

Contents insurance premiums in the same state rose 33% on average for contents worth $75,000 and $150,000.

Sharp premium rises were also recorded in areas less affected by natural disasters.

In NSW, home premiums rose an average of 32% for a $500,000 house, while contents insurance rose 34% for $150,000 of contents.

“On a national basis, average policy increases range from 17% to 24%,” Mr Groth said. “However, while this looks reasonable, there will be many policyholders who will see their premiums increase well in excess of this.”

The largest increase Canstar recorded for contents insurance worth $150,000 was 918%, in NSW. For home insurance on a $500,000 house the biggest recorded increase was 682%, in Victoria.

“A big reason we are seeing for the increase in average premiums is the addition of flood cover in the policies,” Mr Groth said.

“In the past some insurers have not offered flood cover. Now it’s included automatically on many policies with an opt-out option. However, in some high-risk areas you may not ‘qualify’ to opt out.”