If you're looking for the best deal on your home and contents insurance, it's important to shop around and compare insurers.
To assist Kiwi consumers make the right decisions about their home and contents insurance, each year Canstar compares and analyses the main insurance providers in the market to assess which provide the best value products and levels of customer service.
Tower: Home & Contents Insurer of the Year
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, which is based on a sophisticated ratings methodology that compares costs and features across a range of insurance policies.
The award is unique because it also factors in feedback from 2887 Kiwi insurance customers about how satisfied they are with their insurers.
For this year’s award, Canstar’s expert panel researched 14 home and contents insurance products from 11 providers. Each policy was assessed across 30 nationwide property addresses, to ensure a comprehensive comparison.
For the customer service element of the award, policyholders were asked to rate their satisfaction with their insurer across five key areas:
- Communication
- Comprehensiveness of cover
- Cost
- Customer service
- Value for money
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.
The reductions come on the back of Tower switching fully to address-level, risk-based pricing earlier this year. The new pricing model's high-tech approach to risk assessment won Tower a Canstar 2026 Innovation Award.
What’s on offer from Tower?
Tower offers its customers three levels of award-winning cover across its home & contents policies: Premium, Plus and Standard.
What’s covered by Tower’s home insurance?
Premium cover: Tower's most comprehensive policy includes cover benefits including temporary accommodation up to $30,000, gradual damage from water leaks up to $3000, extended carpet replacement and reduced $100 excess for glass breakages.
Plus cover: Benefits include temporary accommodation up to $25,000, gradual damage from water leaks up to $2000 and reduced $200 excess for glass breakages.
Standard cover: Benefits include temporary accommodation up to $15,000, and gradual damage from water leaks up to $1000.
All of Tower's home insurance policies cover:
- Extended sum for fire damage: 20% extra cover should your house be destroyed by fire (excludes fires by natural hazards)
- Full replacement of your home up to sum insured
- Garden retaining walls and landscaping
- Keys and locks
- Natural disaster damage: if your home suffers natural disaster damage, which is more than the EQCover limit, Tower will pay the difference up to the sum insured
- One event/one excess: if you need to make a claim on more than one of your Tower house, contents or car policies at the same time, you'll only pay one excess
What’s covered by Tower’s contents insurance?
Premium cover: Replace lost, damaged or stolen goods with items of similar value, including $10,000 cover per mobile phone, up to $30,000 for jewellery, and up to $10,000 for home office and prescription glasses/contact lenses, plus $10,000 student cover.
Plus cover: Up to $15,000 for jewellery, $5000 for home office and prescription glasses/contact lenses, $5000 student cover and up to $1000 per mobile phone.
Standard cover: Up to $5000 for jewellery, $1000 for glasses/contact lenses, $5000 student cover and up to $500 per mobile phone.
All of Tower's contents policies cover:
- Damaged, lost or stolen possessions replaced with new
- Keys and locks
- Legal liability
- Natural disaster cover
- One excess
- Spoiled frozen or chilled foods
- Transit insurance when moving
Canstar's Outstanding Value Home & Contents Insurance Awards
In addition to our Insurer of the Year Award, based on its research, our expert team also awards individual insurers that deliver great value policies our coveted Outstanding Value Awards.
The awards enable consumers to narrow their search for great insurance products to just the highest-rated insurance providers in the market, those that have been assessed and awarded Canstar's 5-Star awards for Outstanding Value Home & Contents Insurance.
For the second year in a row, our winners are:
- AMI
- Tower
- Trade Me Insurance
- State
AMI: Outstanding Value Winner
AMI offers home, contents and home & contents insurance products. Across the three products, the following earn top 5-Star ratings:
- Plus Contents Insurance
- Plus Home Insurance
- Plus Home & Contents Insurance
Tower: Outstanding Value Winner
Tower offers home, contents and home & contents cover across three levels: Premium, Plus and Standard. Across the nine products, the following earn top 5-Star ratings:
- Plus Contents Insurance
- Standard Contents Insurance
- Standard Home Insurance
- Standard Home & Contents Insurance
Trade Me: Outstanding Value Winner
Trade Me offers home, contents and home & contents insurance products. Across the three products, the following earn top 5-Star ratings:
- Plus Cover Contents Insurance
- Plus Cover Home Insurance
- Plus Cover Home & Contents Insurance
State: Outstanding Value Winner
State offers home, contents and home & contents insurance products. Across all its comprehensive policies it earns top 5-Star ratings:
- Comprehensive Contents Insurance
- Comprehensive Home Insurance
- Comprehensive Home & Contents Insurance