Insurers paid out $4.8 billion on 294,000 weather claims in 2025. Landlord renewals at 1 July are pricing it in

This article is general information only and does not constitute financial or tax advice. Consult a qualified tax professional for advice specific to your situation.

This article is general information only and does not constitute financial, tax, or investment advice.

For Australian landlords, 1 July is not just the start of the tax year. It is also the busiest renewal date in the calendar for landlord insurance policies, sitting alongside policy anniversaries and the natural rhythm of an investor's annual tax planning. The renewal envelope arriving in the next three weeks is going to land harder than last year, and the numbers behind that come straight from the Insurance Council, the Reinsurance Pool Corporation and the Actuaries Institute.

The headline is simple. 2025 was an outlier year for declared catastrophes. 2026 reinsurance was repriced off the back of it. The premium on the renewal is where that pricing shows up.

$4.8 billion of insured weather losses in 2025

The Insurance Council of Australia's 2025 catastrophe data put total insured losses from declared extreme weather events at $4.8 billion across 294,000 claims. The previous calendar year produced around $660 million in claims, so 2025 represented a 727% jump in declared catastrophe losses year on year and almost six times the prior claim count.

The composition tells you why landlord premiums are sensitive to it.

• Queensland accounted for over $4.1 billion of the $4.8 billion in losses, dominated by Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred and the November storms.
• The November 2025 severe storm and hail event across south east Queensland and northern New South Wales reached $1.78 billion across 92,900 claims.
• Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, declared in March 2025, ran to $1.5 billion across more than 133,000 claims.
• Severe spring storms in southeast Queensland and northern NSW added around $900 million across 41,200 claims.
• The average cost per claim across the year rose 39% to $16,471, on the ICA's data. That is materials, labour and rebuild costs running well ahead of CPI.

Five events were declared significant or catastrophic by the ICA over the year, with five formal declarations spanning the North Queensland floods in February, Cyclone Alfred in March, the Mid North Coast floods in May, and two severe storm events in October and November.

For the reinsurance markets that price 2026 premiums, that is the data set being repriced.

ARPC's $267 million cyclone tally

The Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation update on 11 May 2026 put the 2025-26 tropical cyclone season at a preliminary $267 million. The figure splits into a $195 million central actuarial estimate and a $72 million risk margin. Nine events crossed ARPC's declaration threshold for the season.

The largest individual events:

• Tropical Cyclone Narelle: $109 million. Largest single event of the season, with a reintensification phase off the WA coast.
• Tropical Cyclone Fina: $84 million.
• Tropical Cyclone Koji: $53.5 million.

The remaining six declared events made up the balance. None of the individual events produced a portfolio-level shock to the pool, with ARPC noting in its commentary that the storms largely tracked away from densely populated areas. By contrast, a single direct hit on a major regional centre can run into the hundreds of millions on its own.

ARPC also announced in April 2026 that the cyclone reinsurance pool had crossed $1 billion in claim payments to policyholders since launch on 1 July 2022, across 20 declared events. The pool now backs around 3.2 million residential and small business properties.

For landlords in cyclone-exposed northern Australia, the pool is the reason your premium is not materially higher than it is. Outside the cyclone zone, however, it does not directly reduce your renewal.

Premium history: 51% in five years

The Actuaries Institute's affordability tracking put the national average home insurance premium at $2,938 by October 2025, up from $1,940 in 2020. That is a 51% rise across five years.

The Institute's affordability stress test, defined as premiums above four weeks of gross household income, captured 1.61 million Australian households at the most recent update, equal to 15% of all households. That figure was 12% in 2023 and 10% in 2022. Stressed households spend an average of 9.6 weeks of gross income on home insurance, around seven times the rate of non-stressed households.

For owner-occupiers, that affordability metric is one thing. For landlords, the premium is a business cost, so the affordability stress shifts onto net rental yield rather than household budget. But the same cost driver is there.

Landlord insurance specifically: 2026 ranges

Landlord insurance policies typically bundle building cover (if you do not have a strata building policy), contents owned by the landlord, rent default protection, malicious or accidental tenant damage, and legal liability. The pricing varies more widely than home insurance because the cover is bundled and the risk pool is smaller.

Broker and comparator data for 2026 puts typical Australian landlord insurance premiums in a $1,200 to $2,800 per year band for a metropolitan investment property, with sub-ranges:

• 3-bedroom metropolitan house, $600,000 value: $1,400 to $1,900 per year.
• 2-bedroom metropolitan apartment, $450,000 value: $800 to $1,200 per year (assuming building cover is on the strata policy).
• Regional house, $350,000 value: $1,000 to $1,600 per year.
• High-value house, $1 million plus: $2,200 to $3,500 per year.

Cyclone-prone northern Australia properties run materially higher, despite the cyclone pool subsidy. Coastal NSW and Queensland flood-exposed properties also run higher.

On the renewal side, the field reports from late May and June 2026 are mixed. QBE has publicly reported a 5.71% decrease in average premiums across its assessed landlord building and contents customer profiles year on year. Individual Suncorp policyholders have reported renewal proposals of 40% and 70% above the prior year on specific risks. That dispersion is the rule, not the exception, in a market that is repricing post-2025.

The single most useful move at renewal is to get at least three quotes on like-for-like cover, including from a broker who can access non-direct markets. The dispersion is wide enough that the same risk often gets quoted with a 30% spread between the best and worst.

The tax treatment, and what it actually saves you

The ATO position on insurance for residential rental property is in its rental expenses guidance. Premiums for landlord insurance, building insurance and contents insurance on a property held for income-producing purposes are fully deductible as a rental expense in the income year the expense is incurred.

The deduction is not capitalised into the cost base, it does not depreciate over time, and it is not pro-rated unless the property is not let or genuinely available for let for part of the year. A 12-month policy bought on, say, 20 June 2026 is fully deductible in the 2025-26 year if the policy is for an income-producing property.

The after-tax cost of a premium therefore scales with your marginal rate. On a $2,000 landlord insurance policy:

• 32.5% marginal rate (incomes $45,001 to $135,000): net cost $1,350.
• 37% marginal rate ($135,001 to $190,000): net cost $1,260.
• 45% marginal rate (above $190,000): net cost $1,100.

For investors negatively gearing established property purchased before 7:30pm AEST on 12 May 2026, the deduction continues to offset other taxable income under the grandfathered rules. For investors who buy established property after the Budget cut-off, from 1 July 2027 the deduction sits inside the property's net loss, which can only be carried forward to offset rental income. The economic value of the deduction does not disappear, but its timing and offsettability changes.

Where the premium hits cash flow and yield

For a typical $35,000 gross annual rental income on a $650,000 investment property, a $2,000 landlord insurance premium is roughly 5.7% of gross rent or about 0.31% of the gross asset value per year. That is meaningful in a market where Cotality's combined-capital gross yield sits around 3.5%.

Cycled forward into a net yield calculation, the insurance premium sits alongside council rates, water charges, body corporate fees (for strata), property management commission, repairs and land tax to define the running cost line. On most landlords' P&Ls, insurance is the third or fourth largest annual expense after the mortgage interest, property management and rates.

For an investor reviewing 2026-27 cash flow against the May 5 RBA hike to 4.35% and the vacancy rate lift to 1.2%, the insurance line is the controllable cost most worth touching this June. Mortgage rates are bank-set, council rates are state-set, but insurance is a competitive line with real spread between quotes.

A 1 July renewal checklist

Five things to do before the renewal pays:

1. Get three quotes on like-for-like cover. Pick the same building sum insured, the same rent default option, the same liability limit, the same excess. Direct insurers (QBE, Suncorp, Allianz, NRMA, Terri Scheer) plus at least one broker. The spread is often wider than the year-on-year hike.
2. Reset the building sum insured to current rebuild cost. Construction costs are still rising faster than CPI. An underinsured building can be subject to average clauses at claim time. Get a 2026 rebuild estimate from a quantity surveyor or use the insurer's calculator with current postcode data.
3. Make rent default cover an explicit decision. Default cover typically adds $150 to $400 to the premium. For a sole-property landlord with no income buffer, it earns its keep. For a multi-property investor with cash reserves, it is more discretionary.
4. Book the premium into 2025-26 if possible. Paying a 12-month policy by 30 June 2026 secures the deduction in the current financial year rather than 2026-27, which matters if your income mix shifts year over year.
5. Check excess settings. Lifting the excess from $500 to $1,000 typically reduces premium by 5% to 10%. For a landlord who is not claiming for small events, that can pay for itself within 18 months.

Bottom line for landlords

The 2025 catastrophe year did not just hit the insurers' P&Ls. It changed the reinsurance pricing that flows through to your 1 July 2026 renewal, and the cost is going to be visible across the country, not just the cyclone belt. The ICA's $4.8 billion total and ARPC's $267 million cyclone tally are not headlines about somebody else's portfolio. They are the inputs to your premium quote.

Three takeaways:

• The renewal will run at or above last year for most policies. Shop it, do not autorenew.
• The premium is fully deductible against rental income in the year incurred. That softens the cash impact by 32.5% to 45% depending on your marginal rate.
• The other costs in your rental P&L (interest, rates, repairs, management) are not all controllable. Insurance is the one you can move on this month.

Tracking the year's insurance premium against your gross rent, marginal rate and net yield is what Propkt's rental expense tracking and yield reporting is built for. Run the new premium through next to your mortgage interest under the May 5 RBA hike and the latest Cotality value to get the full 2026-27 picture on a single screen, then file the renewal receipt against the property for your accountant.