Best Home Insurance for High-Net-Worth Homeowners  

What is high net worth insurance?  

High net worth insurance, an umbrella term, protects those with high-value possessions and homes, which includes antiques, jewellery, overseas properties, and collectables. It also protects people who travel often, for either personal reasons or for business.  

If a homeowner’s house is valued at roughly $1.3 million, or if an estimated $175K is required to cover his or her contents, a high net worth insurance is likely necessary to adequately protect assets. Because their insured sums are higher than what standard insurance companies will cover, people with immense personal assets oftentimes cannot be covered by standard insurers or policies.  

What is a high-value home?  

A high-value home insurance policy is typically for houses priced at $750,000 and higher. These types of properties usually include houses with unique interior or architectural design elements and heritage homes. More than a standard homeowners insurance policy, high-value home insurance is one of the more comprehensive insurance policies on the market, and typically provides a higher quality of coverage. 

How does high-value home insurance work?  

A typical homeowners insurance policy covers the price of rebuilding or repairing the structure of a damaged home, replace possessions within the house if the items are stolen or destroyed, pay for lawsuits due to property damage or bodily harm, and fund living expenses to live in another location while the house is being rebuilt or repaired.  

By contrast, high-value home insurance offers coverage for higher limits and added coverage for the requirements of a homeowner with a more costly property. For example, there are two homes side-by-side, both priced at $750K each, one with a standard insurance policy and the other with a high-value insurance policy that features guaranteed replacement cost coverage. A fire consumes both houses and the cost to rebuild both is $850K. The homeowner with the structural coverage limit is now $100K in the hole, and the homeowner with guaranteed replacement cost coverage receives the full cost of work, even though it is more than the coverage limit.  

What does high-value home insurance cover?  

Most often, homeowners opt for high-end home insurance for the increased coverage limits, especially when comparing it to a standard homeowners insurance policy, even one that includes added services and benefits. A high-end home insurance policy tends to offer enhanced coverage or bigger policy limits in the following areas:  

Structural replacement or repair.  A lot of high-value home insurance policies offer guaranteed or extended replacement cost coverage, enabling the homeowner to rebuild his or her house to its original state, regardless of whether or not it exceeds the coverage limit.  

Possessions. Some insurers offer higher limits for possessions such as jewellery, coin collections, money, or business property at home. Comparatively, a standard policy usually costs 10% more to insure personal items at the replacement cost, compared to the actual cash value. High-value policies more often than not insure a homeowner’s possessions at the replacement cost.  

Liability. High-value policies usually allow higher limits for medical payments; loss assessments; libel, slander, and defamation; and personal liability.  

Additional living expenses. For living expenses incurred while waiting for a home restoration, like accommodation, laundry, and meals, the homeowner who purchases high-value insurance policies will enjoy expanded coverage.  

Do I need high-value home insurance?  

High-value home insurance coverage is designed for homes that have a high replacement value or that have a higher-than-average reconstruction value. Some examples of whether a homeowner should consider high-value home insurance are when a house is worth $750K or higher; the house has heritage value or older, uncommon construction features; the house has special architectural features or is constructed with materials that are difficult to replace (for instance, a green home); the homeowner has priceless or costly collections, jewellery, wine, fine arts, rugs, or other similar possessions kept in the house; the homeowner possesses costly and hard-to-find fixtures, appliances, or decorations; and if the exterior and interior designs on the property are rare, like lavish guest houses, special landscaping, swimming pool, or outdoor living areas.