Queensland households have seen the highest increase in insurance premiums this year, according to Canstar Cannex’s annual rating of home and contents policies.

The financial research company analysed 38 insurers and 74 policies and obtained over 16,000 individual quotes across the six states to rate companies.

It says the average home and contents premium increased 12% in Queensland, 7.4% in NSW, 5% in Tasmania, 4.9% in SA, 4.7% in WA and 4% in Victoria.

Nationally, 62% of policies have had price increases of no more than 10%, but 31% of Queensland policies have increased by more than 20%. In flood-affected areas, a regional postcode has seen increases of up to 41% while premiums have risen up to 36% for a Brisbane postcode.

Canstar Cannex studied flood coverage this year and found 92% of policies now cover flooding caused by rainwater run-off, 52% cover flash and riverine flooding, 29% tidal flooding and 16% seawater flooding.

It says that for building-only insurance, ANZ and Commonwealth Bank are “standouts for the value they offer consumers across the country”.

Australian Unity and Westpac again top the list for contents insurance.

For home and contents combined, Australian Unity and Commonwealth Bank are top, with Australian Unity very strong in Queensland and WA and Commonwealth dominating in Victoria, SA and Tasmania.

New market entrant Coles Home Insurance topped three categories in NSW – building-only, home and contents and contents only.

Canstar Cannex Research Manager Chris Groth told insuranceNEWS.com.au he can understand how consumers find it hard to compare policies, and many “might not find the energy or motivation to start doing it”.

He says this year some insurers have tried to make policies easier to understand by including a one-page explanation of important information within their product disclosure statements.