Resetting life insurance - analysis of New Zealand market structure

NZIER report to Sovereign Insurance.

Sovereign Insurance has released a NZIER research report on recent trends in the New Zealand life insurance market. The report reveals the number of people insured in New Zealand has been static for over three years – and that over a nine-year period, new customer rates for life insurance were the lowest of any insurance category.

The traditional prime life insurance market, house owners with dependents and a mortgage, now represent just 30% of households in New Zealand. The biggest and fastest growing group by household type is those in rented accommodation – with this shift some of the traditional triggers for when people think about life insurance and how it fits into their lives have been removed.