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\nFlooding in Westport in July 2021.
\nPhoto: Supplied \/ NZ Defence Force\n<\/p>\n
Westport locals are using brokers or specialist insurers as standard insurance in the flood-prone town becomes more difficult or expensive to get.<\/p>\n
RNZ reported on Thursday<\/a> that AA Insurance had temporarily stopped offering new home insurance policies in Westport because of the town’s flood risk.<\/p>\n However, Westport residents said that while AA Insurance was the only company to publicise its policy, many others were also refusing to take on new customers.<\/p>\n Life-time local Glenys Elley lives on a 10-acre lifestyle block on the outskirts of town, close to the Buller River but not in a flood area.<\/p>\n She was quoted nearly double her previous premium, after her broker was unable to secure a new policy for her in 2024.<\/p>\n “We had comprehensive insurance, we had total replacement. [In] 2023, we paid $4700 for our insurance,” she said.<\/p>\n “My broker rang and he said, ‘Glenys, I just can’t get any reasonable insurance for you.’ And I said, ‘Oh, really?’ And he said, ‘$8500.’<\/p>\n “And I said, ‘You are joking.'”<\/p>\n After calling insurers herself, Elley was able to get a quote from specialist rural insurer FMG, for a lower premium than her existing policy.<\/p>\n “I had a great experience with them, and they’ve been great.”<\/p>\n \nAn aerial view of the eastern end of Westport during the July 2021 flood. Elley is not the only one – FMG was recommended by locals in Facebook community pages as among the few insurers still reliably offering new policies in Westport.<\/p>\n Jonathan Cleland, head of underwriting at FMG, told RNZ, “we have a limited risk-appetite within urban areas, given our focus on supporting rural and provincial areas”.<\/p>\n “For areas of heightened natural hazard, including flood risk, FMG takes a case-by-case approach considering individual client circumstances aligned with our underwriting risk-appetite.”<\/p>\n Taryn Sweyt and her partner ended up going through a broker to secure insurance for their first home, which they will move into next month.<\/p>\n The house – a 1950’s bach-style property – is at Carters Beach, a part of town the couple had always wanted to live in.<\/p>\n “Being able to hear the ocean all the time, being able to walk over to the beach and go for a swim, we know a lot of people who live at Carters Beach so you can wander round to each others’ houses easily.”<\/p>\n Carters Beach is low-lying and has had problems with erosion, but the house was on higher land, had not experienced flooding, and the vendors had an insurance policy, Sweyt said.<\/p>\n It was a surprise, therefore, when right before going unconditional they discovered that none of the major insurers would let them take out a policy.<\/p>\n “As soon as you put the postcode in, it says, ‘We’re no longer accepting insurance quotes’,” she said.<\/p>\n They even contacted the vendor’s insurer to see if they could transfer the policy, but were turned down.<\/p>\n “We thought, things have been kind of too good to be true, maybe this is the thing that makes it not happen.”<\/p>\n At their lawyer’s suggestion, they contacted a broker – a former cricket teammate of her partner’s – who was able to secure them insurance that afternoon.<\/p>\n \nCarters Beach is low-lying and has had problems with erosion. It had been “an interesting experience”, Sweyt said.<\/p>\n “The postcode is associated with flooding but where the property is, yes it’s near the beach, but a lot of places in New Zealand are, and it’s never had flooding before.”<\/p>\n Monitoring data published by Treasury in recent years<\/a> has shown that insurers are starting to hone in on flood-risk areas, charging elevated premiums and removing some online availability.<\/p>\n Experts have warned that insurance will become prohibitively expensive or impossible to get at all for some properties as the risk from climate change-driven weather events continues to rise.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Defence Force\n<\/p>\n![\"Buller](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4NZ7MA4_copyright_image_142100.jpeg\")
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\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Rebekah Parsons-King\n<\/p>\n