Southsiders insuring home contents for €3k more than northsiders

Burglar (picture posed)

Sam Griffin

THE value of the contents of Dublin homes is almost the highest in the country, a new study has revealed.

AA Home Insurance says a north/south divide exists in the capitalm with the content of the average home south of the Liffey worth €3,000 more than their northside neighbours.

Homes in Wicklow have the most valuable contents, but almost all counties have experienced a decline in the value of their home-insured contents in the past two years.

An analysis of some 65,000 home insurance policies shows that the average value of contents of homes in Wicklow is €50,537.

This is a decrease from 2013, when the average was €51,783.

The next most valuable is south Dublin, where the average value of home contents is €49,732.

The old cliche about the capital's north/south divide appears to hold true - but not by much.

The average sum for homes on Dublin's northside was just €3,000 less where contents are valued at €46,353.

"We decided to see if both north and south Dublin homes would show a disparity in the value of insuring their contents and sure enough it did," AA Director of Consumer Affairs Conor Faughnan said.

Overall 24 out of 26 counties showed a decrease in average premiums since 2013.

Only Leitrim (€40,299) and Waterford (€47,798) saw an increase in average premiums.

It is unclear why so many counties would record decreases in the value of home contents insured between 2013 and 2015. However AA Home Insurance is warning homeowners against under-insuring contents.

Cost

"People often don't realise just how much it would cost to replace everything," Mr Faughnan said.

"Imagine if you had a fire and lost the house completely, and you list out the amount of money it would cost to buy it all back again.

"You'd be amazed how quickly it builds up, even for those of us who reckon we don't have a lot of valuables," he said.

Waterford, Meath and Kilkenny are all relatively high with cover over €47,000. The figure varies considerably from one county to the next with an overall national average of €44,950.

This is down 5pc on the corresponding 2013 AA Home Insurance analysis figure.