Fitting a basic package of flood resilience measures to new homes as they are built could save up to £60 million over ten years in flood claims and lost property value, according to new analysis from Aviva.
The insurer, which released the figures to mark Flood Action Week, is calling for new homes on land at risk of flooding to be built to a new flood resilience standard.
Aviva modelled surface water flood risk for new homes built in at-risk areas over the past three years. It compared a standard home with one fitted with a £1,000 package of resilience measures, assuming an average flood claim of £32,000 and a typical 8% fall in value for homes at long-term risk of flooding.
It found resilience measures would save around £7 million a year, through avoided claims and devaluation, for the homes built in any single year. That works out at more than £300 a year per home, meaning the £1,000 cost would be paid back in just over three years. Cumulative savings would reach £32.7 million after five years and £60.2 million after ten.
Aviva cited independent data showing homes at risk of flooding typically lose 8% of their market value, rising to 32% where the risk is severe.
Aviva said the human impact matters as much as cost. Homeowners forced out by a flood spend an average of nine months away while their property is dried out and repaired, but residents in its survey of 2,000 consumers estimated they would need to leave for less than three months.
“As the largest UK home insurer, we experience first-hand the impacts that flooding can have on people if they need to move out of their home to allow their property to dry out and be repaired safely,” said Jason Storah, chief executive of UK and Ireland general insurance at Aviva.
He said resilience built in from the start could let families return home much sooner, or stay at home altogether.
The survey found 55% of people would pay an extra £1,000 for a new home with flood resilience built in, rising to 74% of owners of homes built in the last five years. Nearly three in four (73%) agreed new homes should be built resiliently.
The call comes as building in flood-prone areas increases. Aviva estimates that one in nine new homes built over the last three years are in medium or high flood risk areas.
Those homes have no access to Flood Re, the joint government and industry scheme that keeps flood cover affordable. The scheme deliberately excludes properties built after January 1, 2009, to avoid encouraging building in flood risk areas. Flood Re itself is due to end in 2039, when the market is expected to move to fully risk-reflective pricing.
Storah said planning and building regulations needed to change in line with the climate.
For home insurance brokers, the analysis puts a value on something they increasingly face: post-2009 homes in flood-prone areas that fall outside Flood Re and may struggle to find affordable cover. Resilience measures, such as raised electrics, water-resistant flooring and plaster, and non-return valves, are one of the few levers that can improve those risks.
Aviva’s own schemes show the direction of travel. Its Build Back Better offer, available since July 2023, provides up to £10,000 for extra resilience measures on flood claims over £25,000. Almost 500 customers have used it so far. It also offers a flood alert app to high-risk customers.
For brokers handling new-build clients in risk areas, asking what resilience measures a home has, and recording them, is likely to become a bigger part of getting cover placed. If Aviva’s call for a resilience standard succeeds, it could become a condition of insurability rather than an optional extra.
