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Home & Contents Insurance Star Ratings and Awards

Canstar's experts reward the insurance providers delivering the best cover levels and value for money for Kiwi consumers.
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Home & Contents Insurer of the Year Award

2026 Insurer of the Year
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Home & Contents Insurance

Congratulation to Tower the winner of Canstar's Home & Contents Insurer of the Year Award 2026. This is the third year in a row that Tower has won our award.

Tower offers its customers three levels of award-winning cover across its home & contents policies: Premium, Plus and Standard. 

Awarding Tower its Insurer of the Year Award, our expert panel noted that while average annual policy prices increased 3.51% across its research, Tower recorded significant reductions in its average premiums across all three of its home and contents insurance products.

Tower also received glowing praise from its customers, scoring highly in the consumer satisfaction category of our Insurer of the Year Award.

Outstanding Value Home & Contents Insurance Awards

Our awards reveal the insurance providers that deliver the best levels of cover and value across their home and contents policies. Winners are listed alphabetically:

2026 Outstanding Value
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Home & Contents Insurance

AMI earned an Outstanding Value Award on the back of our researchers awarding it top 5-Star ratings for value across its three comprehensive home insurance products:

  • Contents Plus Insurance
  • Home Plus Insurance
  • Home & Contents Plus Insurance

Highlights include a $15,000 allowance to add sustainable products when rebuilding after a total loss, and up to $2500 to cover legal costs if your identity is stolen. AMI's policies are underwritten by IAG.

2026 Outstanding Value
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Home & Contents Insurance

Our researchers awarded State top 5-Star ratings for value across its three home insurance products:

  • Comprehensive Contents Insurance
  • Comprehensive Home Insurance
  • Comprehensive Home & Contents Insurance

Highlights include a $15,000 allowance to add sustainable products when rebuilding after a total loss, and up to $2500 to cover legal costs if your identity is stolen. State's policies are underwritten by IAG.


2026 Outstanding Value
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Home & Contents Insurance

Tower offers great value home, contents and home & contents insurance across three cover levels: Premium, Plus and Standard.

Our research team singled out four of Tower's policies for top 5-Star value ratings, earning the insurer its fourth Outstanding Value Award in a row:

  • Plus Contents Insurance
  • Standard Contents Insurance
  • Standard Home Insurance
  • Standard Home & Contents Insurance
2026 Outstanding Value
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Home & Contents Insurance

TradeMe, which a white label of Tower, retains its Outstanding Value Award for the second year in a row for delivering great value home and contents products that combine competitive pricing with great policy features. For example, cover up to $20,000 for building materials owned by a policyholder during renovations.

Home & Contents Insurance Awards Methodology

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What are Canstar’s Home & Contents Awards?

Canstar's Insurer of the Year Award is based on its Outstanding Value Home & Contents Insurance Awards and Star Ratings, which utilise a sophisticated and unique ratings methodology that compares both costs and features across insurance policies.

The Insurer of the Year Award also factors in consumer satisfaction, measured across five key metrics: Service, Value for Money, Comprehensiveness of Cover, Communication and Cost.

Canstar's Outstanding Value Awards recognise the insurers that provides their customers outstanding levels of cover and value for money.


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Which insurers do we survey for our ratings?

Our award research encompasses 11 insurance providers:

  • AA Insurance
  • AMI
  • AMP
  • ANZ
  • FMG
  • Initio
  • MAS
  • State
  • Tower
  • Trade Me Insurance
  • Westpac
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How do we determine the award winners?

Each home and contents insurance product reviewed is awarded points for its comparative pricing and for the array of features attached to the product.

Each policy was assessed across 30 nationwide property addresses, to ensure a comprehensive comparison.

Our winners are the providers that deliver the best value across the three product profiles: home, contents, and home and contents insurance.

The Insurer of the Year Award is presented to the insurer that provides its customers the strongest combination of performance in the Outstanding Value Home and Contents Awards, as well as customer satisfaction.


Full methodology

Numbers Crunched

11Insurance providers rated
14Insurance policies analysed
4Outstanding Value Award winners
1Insurer of the Year Award winner

Most Satisfied Customers Home & Contents Insurance Award

Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Award is based on feedback from Kiwi insurance policy holders.

2026 Most Satisfied Customers Award
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Home Insurance Claims

This year, we canvassed the opinions of 399 Kiwis who had made claims on their home and contents insurance across five of the biggest insurance brands in the market, listed here in order of our research ranking: AA Insurance, AMI, State, Vero and Tower.

AA Insurance's award win is based on an amazing result: its customers scored the insurer the maximum possible scores across all five award categories, setting the insurer well above all other eligible brands in our research:

  • Communication
  • Ease of Claim
  • Process
  • Quality of Repair/Replacement
  • Timeliness of Repair/Replacement


2026 Most Satisfied Customers Award
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Seniors Car & Home Insurance

FMG is the winner of Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Seniors Car & Home Insurance Award.

The award research covers 2711 Kiwis aged 50+ who had either car or home & contents insurance.

Six brands were eligible for our award, listed here in order of our research ranking: FMG, AA Insurance, State, AMI, Tower, Vero.

And each was assessed across the following five categories:

  • Communication
  • Comprehensiveness of cover
  • Cost
  • Customer service
  • Value for money

In awarding FMG its award, our research panel noted that FMG won in part due to its market-leading levels of customer service.

2026 Most Satisfied Customers Award
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Home & Contents Insurance

This year, we canvassed the opinions of 2699 Kiwis who have home and contents insurance with 13 of the biggest insurance brands in the market, listed here in order of our research ranking: MAS, FMG, AA Insurance, State, ASB, ANZ, NZI, Tower, AMP, BNZ, AMI, Westpac and Vero.

Across our five award ratings categories, MAS's customers scored the insurer the maximum possible scores, setting it above the competition and securing it our Most Satisfied Customers Award:

  • Communication
  • Comprehensiveness of Cover
  • Cost
  • Customer Service
  • Value for Money

It's worth noting that MAS is also the winner of our Most Satisfied Customers Car Insurance Award.

Most Satisfied Customers Home & Contents Insurance Awards Methodology

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What are Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Home & Contents Insurance Awards?

Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Home & Contents Insurance Awards recognise the providers that offer the best levels of cover, value and consumer satisfaction to their policy holders. The awards are based on consumer feedback from Kiwi insurance customers across the country.

For this year's awards, we asked a total of 2711 Kiwis with insurance to rate their insurance companies.


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Which insurers did we survey for our ratings?

Our award research encompasses 13 insurance providers: AA Insurance, AMI, AMP, ANZ, ASB, BNZ, FMG, MAS, NZI, State, Tower, Vero, Westpac.


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What are the main drivers of satisfaction?

Across our Home Insurance and Claims awards, Customer Service and Communication are the most important factors for Kiwi insurance customers. This is understandable as when making a claim, you should expect a quick and easy process with clear communication at every stage.

And, of course, Comprehensiveness of Cover and Value for Money are also key factors when it comes to rating an insurance provider.

Most Satisfied Customers Home Insurance Award

  • Customer Service: 27%
  • Comprehensiveness of Cover: 25%
  • Value for Money: 23%
  • Cost: 13%
  • Communication: 12%

Most Satisfied Customers Home Insurance Claims Award

When it comes to insurance claims, the timeliness and quality of the assistance provided by insurers are also key:

  • Communication: 27%
  • Timeliness of Repair/Replacement: 22%
  • Quality of Repair/Replacement: 22%
  • Process: 17%
  • Ease of Claim: 12%


Full methodology

Numbers Crunched

2711Policy holders surveyed
13Insurance providers assessed
10Award categories rated
3Award winners

About Canstar's Home & Contents Awards

Canstar's home and contents insurance awards and expert ratings reveal the insurance companies that offer the best products and services designed to meet the needs of Kiwi insurance customers.

Canstar has your home & contents covered

Compare cover levels and costs to ensure your valuable assets are as safe as houses.

Compare Home & Contents Insurance

FAQs about Canstar's home and contents insurance awards

Joshua Sale's profile picture
Joshua SaleGroup Manager - Research & Ratings

As Canstar's Group Manager, Research & Ratings, Josh Sale is responsible for the methodology behind Canstar's diverse suite of Star Ratings and Awards and leads the teams that deliver them. With a background in economics and finance and a Master's in data science, Josh has spent the past ten years building ratings that help connect consumers with the right product for them.
Josh is passionate about helping consumers get hands-on with their finances. Josh has been interviewed by media outlets such as the Australian Financial Review, news.com.au and Money Magazine.
You can follow Josh on LinkedIn, and Canstar on X and Facebook.


Bruce Pitchers's profile picture
Bruce PitchersNZ Editor

Bruce Pitchers is Canstar's NZ Editor. An experienced finance reporter, he has three decades’ experience as a journalist and has worked for major media companies in Australia, the UK and NZ, including ACP, Are Media, Bauer Media Group, Fairfax, Pacific Magazines, News Corp and TVNZ. As a freelancer, he has worked for The Australian Financial Review, the NZ Financial Markets Authority and major banks and investment companies on both sides of the Tasman.
In his role at Canstar, he has been a regular commentator in the NZ media, including on the Driven, Stuff and One Roof websites, the NZ Herald, Radio NZ, and Newstalk ZB.
Away from Canstar, Bruce creates puzzles for magazines including Woman’s Day and New Idea. He is also the co-author of the murder-mystery puzzle book 5 Minute Murder.