Should you follow Martin Lewis’ home insurance advice if you own a high value home?
If you own a typical UK home, Martin Lewis' home insurance advice is sensible: you should never just accept your renewal price, you should compare, and you should understand your policy.
However, if you own a high value property, that may not be enough. High value home insurance lives in a different part of the market. The mindset Martin encourages is useful, but the type of cover you choose and the way you check it need to reflect higher rebuild costs, more complex claims, and more valuable belongings.
High value home insurance is not just “more of the same”
High value home insurance is specialist cover for homes and collections that sit above the standard market. It's built for listed or architect designed properties, higher rebuild values and homes with meaningful art, jewellery or watches, where a basic policy and low limits would leave gaps. The aim is simple: cover that reflects how you live, not just where you live.
High value homes in a rising price market
Martin Lewis has been clear that home insurance costs have risen sharply in recent years. He recently highlighted that average home insurance prices were still around 19 per cent higher year on year and about 80 per cent higher than five years ago. This aligns with patterns observed in the wider market.
Industry data backs this up. Official ABI figures show the average price paid for a combined buildings and contents policy rose 13 per cent in 2023, while research firms such as Consumer Intelligence have reported year on year increases in the mid twenties at their peak and, more recently, a fall of around 13 per cent as competition has returned.
Even with that easing, prices remain well above where they were a few years ago, particularly for complex or high value homes. This means that some high value homes may not be fully reflected by the assumptions used on standard comparison sites.
We recently wrote about this in more detail in a sepearte article on why home insurance is more expensive.
Where Martin Lewis is still right for high value owners
There are three parts of Martin’s home insurance advice I would keep even for high value homes.
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Do not sleepwalk into renewal
Many customers review their renewal terms rather than automatically accepting them. Different insurers can offer very different prices for similar policies, and timing matters.
Analysis of large numbers of quotes suggests that quotes can vary depending on when they are obtained, although this varies between insurers. Buying your policy roughly 5 to 25 days before it starts can save you more than 10% compared with leaving it until the last minute, and in some cases up to around 25%.
Many customers get an increase, shrug, and let the renewal roll over. If premiums have already moved sharply in recent years, complacency is an expensive habit.
Understand buildings insurance and contents insurance
Home insurance is usually a combination of two things. Buildings insurance covers the structure of your home, including the walls, roof, floors and fixed items such as the bathroom and fitted kitchen. It should be based on the property’s rebuild cost, not the market value. If you have a mortgage, your lender will typically insist you keep buildings cover in place.
Contents insurance protects your belongings, from furniture and clothes to electronics, usually on a new for old basis. If you undervalue your contents, any claim can be reduced in proportion. Combining both buildings insurance and contents insurance is what really protects you against escape of water, fire, theft and accidental damage throughout the home.
For high value homes the principles are identical. You are still choosing between buildings, contents and a combined policy; the sums insured are simply higher and the detail matters more.
Use price levers without hollowing out cover
There are factors that can sometimes influence the cost of your premium without weakening the policy itself.
- Increasing the voluntary excess can lower the premium, as long as the excess is affordable if you need to claim.
- Installing approved locks, alarms and other security measures can prevent some types of loss and can reduce prices where insurers specify minimum standards.
- Paying annually rather than monthly usually costs less overall, because monthly instalments often carry interest.
These levers work for most customers. For higher value homes, changes to limits or cover types may have a greater impact, so it’s important to understand how any adjustments work.
Where mainstream advice can fail high value homes
The problems start when a high value home is insured on a policy that was never designed for it.
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Limits that quietly cut your claim
Standard home insurance policies often headline a generous contents limit, but the detail is in the sub limits.
You'll usually find a single item limit for valuables and a separate overall limit for all valuables combined. If your jewellery, watches, artwork or specialist collections exceed those limits and aren't properly listed, your claim payment may be limited, no matter how good the headline looks.
High value home insurance policies are built to provide higher limits for specified valuables and higher overall caps. Some, like rivr, will also offer stronger worldwide cover for items such as jewellery and art. That difference only shows up when you actually have a loss.
Complex properties and higher rebuild costs
Homes that are listed, architect designed, spread over multiple levels or affected by subsidence cost more to reinstate. The materials and trades involved are different from those used in a simple rebuild of a modern standard construction.
Recent market data suggests that owners of period homes often pay around double the premiums of more modern properties, with some studies showing averages more than 100% higher for pre-1900 or period homes compared with newer builds.
Specialist high value products are designed to take account of higher rebuild complexities. Policies are structured so that buildings cover lines up with real rebuild costs, not just a generic calculator. They are also more likely to respond properly if you need specialist contractors, or if access to the property makes work more complex.
Service and the human side of claims
When something serious happens to a high value home, such as a major escape of water, fire or structural loss, you're not just filling out a form. You're dealing with your main home, possibly your office and your business base, and the belongings that matter most to you.
Some high value policies include access to surveyors, claims handlers and contractors who understand that context, and who can respond quickly and clearly. Thats hard to see on a price comparison page, but it's what makes the difference when you're living out of one room while the rest of the place is being rebuilt.
A simple framework to review your own cover
Here is how I would approach a review if you suspect you're in the high value bracket.
Step 1: Decide whether you're truly high value
High value home insurance is commonly used where:
- The rebuild cost of your home is significantly above average, often above £1 million
- You own significant valuables such as jewellery, watches, art or collections
- Your property is listed, architect designed, or has a history of issues like subsidence
- You use part of the home as an office for your own business
If several of these apply, standard home insurance policies will struggle to provide the right combination of cover.
Step 2: Get your numbers and details straight
Before you look for a quote, take time to read your current documents and check key details.
Buildings: use a realistic rebuild estimate that reflects materials, design, outbuildings and access.
Contents: walk room by room, estimate the replacement value of your belongings, and include wardrobes, technology and smaller things as well as obvious valuables.
Valuables: list high value items individually and keep valuations or receipts where possible (with our high value contents insurance, you only need specifiy items over £25,000).
Insurers generally require customers to disclose any building work or significant changes to the property. That way your policy stays valid. The biggest problems I see at claim stage often come from undeclared changes, which can lead to long investigations and, in some cases, insurers refusing to pay the claim in full.
Step 3: Use comparison tools as a benchmark, then go specialist
Comparison sites still have a place. Martin Lewis and others are right that you should compare. They show you prices and help you find a better deal than a lazy renewal.
Sometimes, while you're waiting for a popular site to load, you might see a message such as “www.moneysavingexpert.com needs to review the security of your connection before proceeding”, with a ray id, performance security notes and other network details. It looks technical, but the idea is simple. These pages want to review the security of your connection so that a human user can access the page safely and respond, rather than exposing your data.
For a high value home, treat those comparison quotes as the first view, not the final answer. Once you understand the price range, speak with a specialist provider who can provide a policy that actually fits your property and lifestyle.
Step 4: Choose a provider you can rely on
When you narrow down policies, look beyond the premium.
- Does the policy clearly describe what is covered under buildings, contents and valuables
- Are unoccupancy, security and building work conditions realistic for the way you live
- Can you easily access your documents online and view key details during the year
- Is the insurer authorised and regulated, registered in England or elsewhere in the UK, with a firm reference number you can check on the official register
If a provider cannot provide clear answers, or the wording is impenetrable, that should influence your decision. The difference between a good and a bad outcome often comes down to the policy you chose a year earlier.
How rivr approaches high value home insurance
We focus on high value home insurance for people whose homes and belongings do not fit standard templates. The policies we arrange bring together buildings, contents, valuables, fine art, antiques and personal liability in one place, with limits that reflect the true cost of repair and replacement.
We offer combined home insurance, standalone buildings insurance up to around £3 million, and contents insurance up to around £500,000, with worldwide cover for many personal possessions and valuables as standard.
Our role is to provide a clear, digital journey, straightforward policy wording, and a team that can explain your cover in human language and help you if you ever need to make a claim.
The aim is simple. Protect your property and your lifestyle and let you get on with the rest of your life when something goes wrong.
Reach out to us and get a level protection that matches your lifestyle.
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Frequently asked questions
Martin Lewis and MoneySavingExpert’s commonly highlight several points: never just auto-renew, always shop around, time your quote (usually around two to four weeks before renewal), insure for the rebuild cost not the market value, consider a higher voluntary excess if you can afford it, and pay annually rather than monthly where possible.
Yes. Many of the ideas around reviewing terms, understanding cover and comparing options can still be relevant: you should not blindly accept a renewal, and you should sense-check price and cover. Where high value owners differ is in how they shop around. For larger sums insured, listed buildings or complex construction, the “mass market” panel behind comparison sites can be quite limited or may not rate the risk properly. In these cases, the types of insurers and policies available may differ from those typically shown on standard comparison sites.
For standard homes, his comparison-first approach can be effective. For high value or non-standard homes, the range of insurers available on comparison panels may be more limited. A specialist broker can often access high-net-worth insurers and tailor sums insured, valuables cover and wording in a way a generic online form cannot.
That's where rivr sits: alligned with Martin’s advice that still works while layering specialist underwriting on top.
MoneySavingExpert highlights that you should insure based on the rebuild cost, not the market value. That also applies to high value homes where rebuild estimates for these properties can be influenced by factors such as listed-building obligations, specialist craftsmanship, complex layouts or higher-value materials. Because of this, some owners choose to obtain professional assessments or specialist surveys to help inform the sums insured. Specialist insurers typically place emphasis on accurate rebuild valuations to ensure cover reflects the property’s reinstatement cost.
The general rule is that you may need high-value home insurance if you meet any of the following criteria:
- The rebuild value of your home is over £1 million
- Your general contents are worth over £100,000
- You have valuable items that together are worth over £30,000
Yes. Rivr can insure many non-standard homes, including timber, wattle and daub, subject to individual underwriting and approval.
