NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business / Personal Finance

Locations prone to flooding, erosion harder or pricier to get insurance in

Tamsyn Parker
By Tamsyn Parker
Business Editor·NZ Herald·
18 May, 2017 11:11 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

People are being urged to think about coastal erosion when buying beachfront properties. Photo/Paul Taylor.

People are being urged to think about coastal erosion when buying beachfront properties. Photo/Paul Taylor.

Would be home-buyers are being urged to check the insurability of properties before signing a binding purchase agreement in the wake of a series of major storm events this year.

While one-off floods do not typically affect whether a property will get insurance, multiple events may mean insurers won't cover certain events or could push up the excess to higher levels.

Tim Grafton, chief executive of the Insurance Council of New Zealand, said some properties in Kaeo in Northland were not covered for floods because the risk was so high.

A group of houses in Christchurch's Flockton Basin faced an excess of $10,000 per flood before the council undertook a $48 million flood mitigation programme.

Parts of Thames and the Coromandel also struggled to get flood insurance cover, Grafton said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Sea levels rising and coastal erosion were also issues people needed to consider.

Grafton said residents of the small coastal town of Haumoana in southern Hawke's Bay found it difficult to get insurance at all because of coastal erosion problems.

According to Wikipedia the shoreline at Haumoana is retreating at an average of between 0.3m and 0.7m per year.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"If you are buying a property you would be nuts to put in a binding offer without checking you can insure it."

Grafton said people who could not get insurance for a property would also struggle to get a mortgage.

"If you can't get insurance the bank won't loan you the money."

Grafton also said those considering paying top dollar for prime coastal properties should think about future erosion issues.

Rising sea levels and coastal erosion could impact properties that were selling for premium prices on today's market.

He said properties which faced flooding or erosion problems in years to come may be harder to get a longer-term mortgage on.

If the term became shorter the payments would increase which would also limit who could afford to buy the property in the future.

When demand, reduced the price of resale could also fall, he said.

Grafton urged people to check out land information memorandums provided by councils for properties to understand what natural hazards the property could face.

But he said each insurer followed its own rules of thumb.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Brendan McGillicuddy, national portfolio manager home for IAG, the country's largest insurer, said it relied on council hazard zoning to help define areas that present risk - such as locations presenting risk of erosion and being susceptible to big storm events.

But all policies were assessed on a case-by-case basis.

"IAG does not adhere to location-specific blanket exclusions that prevent homes across whole towns or areas from being eligible for home or contents cover."

McGillicuddy said that while beachfront properties in certain locations may fall within a council hazard zone, some locations such as Haumoana also had homes out of this zone.

"...so cover may still be offered but may be subject to premiums loadings, higher excesses and other special terms like market value cover only, exclude damage from sea water, storm surge or inundation."

A spokeswoman for AA Insurance said it offered home and contents cover throughout New Zealand except for a period of time after a significant event, such as home cover after the earthquakes in Canterbury and Kaikoura, and the flooding in Edgecumbe.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Personal Finance

Premium
Personal Finance

ACC crackdown: Insurer commits to 'ambitious' targets to cut claims growth

02 Jul 05:02 PM
Herald NOW

Herald NOW: Personal finance with Forsyth Barr, Wednesday, July 2

Premium
Companies|banking and finance

NZ’s largest taxpayers revealed - does big business play fair?

01 Jul 05:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Personal Finance

Premium
ACC crackdown: Insurer commits to 'ambitious' targets to cut claims growth

ACC crackdown: Insurer commits to 'ambitious' targets to cut claims growth

02 Jul 05:02 PM

State insurer eyes people receiving long-term compo.

Herald NOW: Personal finance with Forsyth Barr, Wednesday, July 2

Herald NOW: Personal finance with Forsyth Barr, Wednesday, July 2

Premium
NZ’s largest taxpayers revealed - does big business play fair?

NZ’s largest taxpayers revealed - does big business play fair?

01 Jul 05:00 PM
Premium
'Not much': $7200 fine for landlords breaching healthy homes standards too low

'Not much': $7200 fine for landlords breaching healthy homes standards too low

29 Jun 09:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP