Landslide damage has become the most frequently claimed natural hazard under New Zealand’s public scheme, a trend that is drawing attention from underwriters, reinsurers, and brokers as repeat storms transfer a growing share of weather losses onto private balance sheets. The latest illustration came this week in South Wairarapa, where back-to-back storms closed the main routes into Martinborough for a second time within 24 hours.
The Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake (NHC) reported in May 2026 that it was receiving more claims for landslide damage than for any other natural hazard. It recorded almost 13,000 landslide claims over the past five years, roughly 10,000 more than in the previous five-year period. “Landslides can happen with little warning and cause significant damage to homes and property – and in some cases put lives at risk. As storms become more frequent and intense, landslides are understandably a growing concern for many communities,” NHC chief executive Tina Mitchell said.
That frequency signal sits within a broader loss picture. According to the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ), total insurance claims across all lines reached $3.8 billion in its 2025 review, with motor-related claims at $1.8 billion and home and contents claims at $1.1 billion. Per the ICNZ Cost of Natural Disasters database, the full-year 2025 extreme weather total was approximately $278.2 million, and the South Island severe weather events of October 2025 produced $158.9 million in insured losses across nearly 17,000 claims.
The commercial weight of the trend comes from where the loss lands. Under the Natural Hazards Insurance Act 2023, which took effect on July 1, 2024, and replaced the Earthquake Commission Act 1993, the scheme provides first-loss residential building cover of up to $300,000 plus GST, with any damage above that met by the homeowner’s private policy. For storm and flood events the commission covers residential land only, leaving building damage to the private insurer. Land cover generally applies to the area within eight metres of the home, retaining walls are covered to a maximum of $50,000 plus GST per dwelling, and bridges and culverts to $25,000 plus GST. ICNZ has said rising construction costs mean more claims breach the cap, transferring a larger share of each loss to private insurers.
The scheme’s own funding is under pressure. In its February 2026 Cabinet paper, the Treasury advised that the current levy rate of 16 cents per $100 of building cover is below the technical rate of 24 cents needed to meet the scheme’s expected long-run costs, driven largely by the 2022 update to the National Seismic Hazard Model. The Treasury said that at the current rate the scheme has a 38% probability of sufficiency, rising to 66% at 24 cents, and that lifting the levy would raise the maximum annual charge per dwelling from $554 to $828 and generate about $464 million more a year. The Natural Hazard Fund stood at $622.6 million as at September 30, 2025, against levy revenues of $853 million in 2023/24, and is backed by a Crown guarantee. The government has paused the levy decision pending an affordability review.
The loss pattern is feeding into premiums. The Treasury found that home insurance premiums have grown at three times the rate of general CPI since 2011, with a 40% rise in the two years to early 2026, and that coverage may become unavailable for some properties at any price as hazard models are updated. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), in its May 2026 Financial Stability Report, estimated the total sum insured of residential dwellings in 2024/25 at around $1.5 trillion and put the national average annual buildings premium at about $2,900, while the NHC estimates about 60,000 homes are uninsured. The RBNZ said emerging pressures from affordability, underinsurance, and insurer retreat from areas exposed to elevated flooding risk indicate financial stability risks may increase. Reinsurance cost is a recognised driver; the Treasury review is examining the extent to which international reinsurance markets explain local price changes.
RNZ reported on July 9, 2026, that heavy rain closed the Waihenga Bridge on State Highway 53 as the Ruamahanga River rose, cutting the main access to Martinborough over the Matariki long weekend. Moy Hall winery owner Phillip McArthur told RNZ bookings were down 60% year-on-year. “Basically, it stops our business in its tracks. There are people that are in Martinborough so they still turn up, but those day visitors just disappear,” he said. Martinborough Hotel owner Tim Smith told RNZ he had recorded a loss of about $6,000 by mid-morning, with 18 guest nights cancelled.
For operators, whether business-interruption cover responds is a live question. New Zealand prevention-of-access and contingent BI extensions are generally triggered by insured physical damage near the premises, not by loss of access alone. Tower’s wording, for example, covers loss where access is prevented by insured damage within a one-kilometre radius, and NZI’s within five kilometres. A road closure with no qualifying property damage to the insured’s site or its vicinity may therefore fall outside cover. Combined with the landslide claims surge, this points to continued pressure across property, business interruption, and land-damage lines as event frequency rises.
