Strata premiums fell 12% in northern Australia, ACCC’s final report finds

The average cost of a strata insurance policy in northern Australia fell 12% in a year, from $9,466 to $8,341, while the average in the rest of the country rose 4%, the ACCC's final insurance monitoring report says.

The report, published on 25 June 2026, is the fifth and last in the competition regulator's series tracking what the Cyclone Reinsurance Pool has done to premiums. The pool is a Commonwealth-backed reinsurance scheme for cyclone damage, and insurers pass their cyclone risk to it for homes, strata buildings and small businesses.

What did the ACCC find for strata buildings?

• The average cost per strata policy in northern Australia fell from $9,466 in 2023-24 to $8,341 in 2024-25, a 12% fall.
• Elsewhere in Australia it rose from $6,473 to $6,719, a 4% rise.
• Even after the fall, a strata policy in the north cost about $1,600 more on average than one elsewhere.
• Commission was a visible part of the cost. The report found "commission costs comprising 16% ($1,303) of average strata insurance costs" in northern Australia, before any additional fees.

What does it mean for a body corporate in North Queensland?

An average hides a wide spread. In medium to high cyclone risk areas the report found an 8% reduction in the average strata premium per $100,000 of sum insured, and the largest falls were far bigger: 42% at the 95th percentile in Karratha and 28% in Townsville. The figure that matters to a body corporate is its own renewal, and one part of it can be asked for directly: how much of the premium is commission.

Our explainer on commissions in strata insurance lists the questions a committee can ask, and our guide to what strata insurance costs shows a real premium broken into its parts.

Sources

• ACCC, Insurance monitoring report (fifth and final), 25 June 2026: accc.gov.au

General information only. The figures are the ACCC's averages and say nothing about what a particular building will be quoted.