Tower unveils new research on attitudes to risk and resilience as it expands its risk-based pricing model and property risk ratings across New Zealand
New research from Tower reveals that nearly half (46 percent) of Kiwi want more information about their property’s exposure to climate-related risks and natural disasters.
The findings also show that an overwhelming 86 percent of those surveyed believe it’s important to have information about their property’s risk profile.
The research ‘Weathering change: attitudes to climate risk and resilience in New Zealand’, has been released as Tower expands its risk-based pricing and public risk ratings tool to include landslide and sea surge risks. Tower was the first New Zealand insurer to introduce risk-based pricing for earthquakes in 2018, followed by inland flooding in 2021.
The move aims to bring greater transparency to how climate and natural hazard risks are reflected in Tower’s insurance premiums – and to help Kiwi better understand the risks their homes face.
Tower CEO Paul Johnston says, “As weather events become more frequent and extreme it’s important people have information about the risks that could affect their property.
“We want to help people become more resilient to the impacts of climate change and prepared for the future. Like most Kiwi, we believe people should only pay for the risks that apply to their homes, not someone else’s. Expanding our risk-based pricing model is a fair and transparent way to support this.”
According to the research, 70 percent of New Zealanders think it’s fair for insurance premiums to reflect each individual property’s risk, and 68 percent support higher premiums for homes more prone to weather or natural disaster damage.
“Insurance is vital for the personal and economic resilience of our communities. Tower’s evolution of risk-based pricing reflects New Zealand’s need to be more prepared. As a nation, we must focus our collective efforts on climate change adaptation, which is what will ultimately help keep insurance accessible and affordable in the long term,” says Johnston.
Tower’s risk-based pricing model uses detailed data and analytics to enable Tower to assess the likelihood an individual property will be impacted by a certain type of weather event or natural disaster and the estimated cost of repairing damage. It aims to remove cross-subsidisation so that customers only pay for the risks their homes face, not anyone else’s.
Tower is working with some of the world's leading risk management and modelling companies to help calculate detailed risks specific to New Zealand addresses, including Moody’s for flood and earthquake risk-based pricing; Haskoning for sea surge risk-based pricing; and Swiss RE for landslide risk-based pricing.
When Tower launched flood risk-based pricing in 2021, around 90 percent of its home insurance customers received a reduction in the flood portion of their premium, at an average of around $25 per property.
With the addition of landslide and sea surge risk ratings, over 90% of Tower customers will now receive a reduction in the natural hazards portion of their premium, with average savings of $70 per property. Fewer than 10% of properties (those with higher sea surge or landslide risks) will see an increase in the natural hazards portion of their premiums, proportionate to their level of risk.
Tower will support customers with higher sea surge or landslide risk by smoothing annual increases over a period of up to four years.
Risk ratings for these hazards for individual residential addresses across New Zealand can be accessed by getting a quote from Tower online - https://my.tower.co.nz/quote/bundle-builder
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About Moody’s
Developed with analysis from Moody’s, the world’s leading catastrophe risk solutions company, the Moody’s New Zealand Inland Flood HD Model is the world’s first fully probabilistic flood model for the country.
The model uses Moody’s analysis based on 50,000 years of continuous simulation of the entire precipitation cycle and all sources of flood – pluvial and fluvial – resulting in a catalogue of 350,000 simulated events. The flood model also includes all publicly available flood defence and mitigation efforts.
The Moody’s model is built with data obtained from local organisations and institutions, including the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), local and regional councils and the ICNZ.
About Swiss RE
Swiss Re Reinsurance Solutions, a Division of Swiss Re, offer a powerful suite of tools and services spanning the entire insurance value chain. Building on Swiss Re's long-standing expertise as well as proprietary data and models, Swiss Re Solutions offer a range of solutions helping property and commercial insurance carriers amid growing catastrophe events and an ever-changing risk landscape. Leveraging the power of data, advanced analytics and technology, our property solutions help insurers anticipate risks proactively, evaluate portfolio exposures accurately, and respond swiftly to NatCat events.
Swiss Re’s landslide risk modelling combines terrain susceptibility and runout – factoring in slope, geology, seismicity and precipitation – to deliver a comprehensive view of potential impact zones, especially for earthquake-induced landslides.
About Haskoning
Haskoning is a global engineering consultancy that delivers innovative and data-driven solutions to complex environmental challenges. With more than 6,800 specialists in 25 countries, Haskoning brings technical excellence and global expertise together with local insight.
Through its dedicated offering “Twinn”, Haskoning provides advanced climate and physical and risk analytics – including global mapping and forecasting tools – enabling organisations to make informed, data-driven decisions in a changing world.
Haskoning’s New Zealand FloodMap is the most comprehensive and up-to-date national flood model available, providing detailed hazard mapping for the entire country. By integrating high-resolution hydrological data, real-time analytics and intuitive visualisation, FloodMap supports councils, insurers, developers and infrastructure providers to understand flood risk – informing urban planning, emergency response and climate resilience.
Through tools like FloodMap, Haskoning empowers organisations to navigate the increasing challenges of climate change and extreme weather with clarity and confidence.
Weathering change: attitudes to climate risk and resilience in New Zealand, is based on independent research conducted by the Octopus Group in May 2025, with a sample size of 1,050 representative of NZ’s population.