March 31st 2008

The London borough of Islington has been named as one of the most expensive places in the UK when it comes to insurance, both home and car. The area has some rather upmarket enclaves such as Highbury and Canonbury but also streets and estates of great deprivation and with theft a major factor in contents insurance you can expect to pay higher premiums than other districts.

Actuarial consultancy EMB studied premiums across the country to come up with a 10 "worst" and "best" places to live in the UK for insurance costs. And while Islington may house some of the wealthy and affluent it was found to have high levels of violence and drug-related crime which drove up premiums. And it is not just contents insurance quotes, car theft is two and a half times the national average making car insurance pricey too.

A partner at EMB commented that "Insurance premiums are typically higher in cities than rural areas because of the combination of high crime and unemployment rates; about half of a contents premium will be based on the likelihood of theft."

He added: "Quite simply, Islington has a high density of young, unemployed males and it is this section of the population that is most likely to commit crimes against property and motors."

At the other end of the insurance spectrum came Cambridgeshire which had, on average, the lowest priced insurance premiums in the UK with Winchester and Edinburgh second and third respectively. The study also found that properties in areas prone to flood were seeing premiums rising at a considerable rate and that in just five years time the premiums in these areas will look very different.