Introduction

Home insurance has become one of the fastest-growing costs in the average Australian household budget. National data shows premiums climbing more than 40 percent over the past two years, with average household premiums rising around 14 percent in 2025 alone, and industry forecasts pointing to continued growth through 2026 as insurers adjust to climate-related risk and rebuilding cost pressures. A YouGov survey commissioned by the Climate Council in January 2026 found that a majority of insured Australians are now genuinely worried that bushfires, floods, and severe storms could make cover unaffordable or unavailable in their area altogether.

Perth homeowners have generally fared better than several other capitals, benefiting from a relatively competitive insurance market and the state's Emergency Services Levy being collected through council rates rather than added to premiums directly. But that doesn't mean Perth properties are immune to the broader trend, particularly in bushfire-exposed pockets like the Perth Hills and the Darling Range, where risk-based pricing applies just as it does everywhere else in the country.

With premiums under this much scrutiny, a question we've been fielding more often from Perth homeowners is whether the state of their property, its cleanliness, upkeep, and general condition, actually has any bearing on their insurance situation. We sat down to answer the questions coming up most often.

What Perth Homeowners Are Actually Asking

Does keeping my home clean and well-maintained actually affect my insurance premium?

Not directly, in most cases. Premiums are primarily driven by your property's location, construction type, sum insured, and regional risk factors like bushfire or cyclone exposure, rather than day-to-day cleanliness. Perth's bushfire-prone areas, for example, generally attract higher premiums regardless of how well a specific property is maintained. That said, maintenance and cleanliness intersect with insurance in a different, arguably more important way: how a claim actually gets assessed.

What do you mean by that? How does maintenance affect a claim?

Most home insurance policies include exclusions for damage caused by wear, lack of maintenance, or gradual deterioration, as opposed to damage from a sudden, insured event. Advice circulating through 2026 has specifically flagged checking a policy for exclusions related to wear and maintenance as one of the details homeowners most commonly overlook at renewal. In practical terms, this means an insurer assessing a claim may look closely at whether a property was being reasonably maintained leading up to the incident, particularly for claims involving things like water damage, mould, or pest infestation, where the line between a sudden event and gradual neglect can be genuinely contested.

So if my gutters are blocked and it contributes to water damage, could that affect a claim?

This is exactly the kind of scenario where maintenance history becomes relevant. Water damage stemming from blocked gutters, poorly maintained roof areas, or long-neglected plumbing fixtures can be treated differently to damage from a genuinely sudden, unforeseen event, depending on your specific policy wording. It's worth reading your Product Disclosure Statement carefully on this point, since maintenance-related exclusions vary between insurers and aren't always obvious from a quick skim of your policy summary.

Why are premiums rising so much in 2026 specifically?

Several factors are compounding at once. Rebuilding costs, driven by labour and materials pricing, have risen sharply across Australia, and insurers price premiums partly around what it would genuinely cost to rebuild a home to current standards if the worst happened. Climate-related risk, including increased bushfire, flood, and severe storm exposure, is also a significant driver, with insurance industry analysis pointing to continued annual premium growth through 2026 as insurers recalibrate for these risks. On top of that, a meaningful number of Australian homes are believed to be underinsured, with sum insured amounts not keeping pace with actual current rebuild costs, which adds further pressure to the broader system.

Is Perth actually facing the same pressure as the rest of Australia?

To a degree, yes, though the picture is more moderate here than in some other regions. Perth and the south-west corner of WA generally see more competitive premiums than higher-risk areas like Brisbane's west or parts of northern WA affected by cyclone risk. However, the Perth Hills, the Darling Range, and other bushfire-prone pockets of the metro area are recognised as significant risk zones, and properties in these areas are priced accordingly, following the same national trend of rising, risk-weighted premiums.

What can homeowners actually do about rising premiums?

Comparing quotes across multiple insurers remains one of the most effective steps, given how much pricing can vary for genuinely comparable cover. Beyond that, checking your sum insured to reflect current rebuild costs rather than an outdated figure, reviewing your excess level, and asking about discounts tied to safety features like smoke detectors are all worth doing at renewal. Ongoing property maintenance, while not typically a direct premium lever, protects you in the more important sense of ensuring a legitimate claim doesn't get complicated by a maintenance-related dispute.

Where does professional cleaning actually fit into all of this?

Regular professional cleaning supports the broader maintenance picture insurers care about, particularly around moisture and mould management, which is one of the more common grey areas in claims disputes. A consistently well-maintained bathroom exhaust system, for example, reduces the kind of gradual mould development that can complicate a claim down the track. It's not a substitute for structural maintenance like roof and gutter upkeep, but it's a meaningful part of keeping a property in the kind of condition that supports a straightforward claims process if something does go wrong.

 Any final advice for Perth homeowners feeling the pressure of rising premiums this year?

Don't let the premium conversation crowd out the maintenance conversation. It's tempting to focus entirely on finding the cheapest quote, and comparing properly is genuinely worth doing. But the homeowners who come out ahead when something actually goes wrong are usually the ones who've also kept their property in a condition that makes a claim straightforward, rather than the ones who found the lowest premium but left maintenance-related grey areas unaddressed.

What Ongoing Property Maintenance Should Realistically Include

• Regular gutter and roof valley clearing to reduce water damage risk
• Bathroom and laundry exhaust fan cleaning to manage moisture and mould risk
• Prompt attention to any signs of water ingress or damp patches
• Regular professional cleaning to support general property condition
• Keeping documentation or before-and-after evidence of maintenance where practical
• Reviewing your policy's specific maintenance and wear exclusions annually at renewal

Final Thoughts

Rising home insurance premiums are a genuine, well-documented financial pressure for Australian households in 2026, and no amount of property maintenance changes the underlying market forces driving that trend. But the conversation shouldn't stop at premiums. Somewhere underneath the headline numbers sits a quieter, equally important question: if something actually happens to your home, will your maintenance history support a straightforward claim, or complicate one?

That's the part within a homeowner's control, and it's worth treating seriously, not because it will lower your premium, but because it protects the entire point of having insurance in the first place. A well-maintained, genuinely well-kept property gives you the best possible position if you ever need to rely on that policy.

If you've been meaning to get on top of maintenance tasks that have quietly slipped, gutters, exhaust fans, general upkeep, this year's insurance headlines are as good a reason as any to make it a priority rather than something to get to eventually.

Keep Your Perth Property Genuinely Well-Maintained

SAS Cleaning Service helps Perth homeowners stay on top of the cleaning side of property maintenance, supporting the kind of consistent upkeep that matters when it counts.

📞 Phone: 0478 367 089 📧 Email: contact@sascleaningservice.com 📍 Location: 11/10 Morley Drive, Tuart Hill, WA 6060 — servicing Perth and all surrounding suburbs