SYDNEY, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) — Over 1.5 million Australian homes are experiencing insurance affordability stress as premiums rise with the growing threat of natural disasters, a report has found.

According to the report published by the Sydney-based Actuaries Institute on Monday, as of March 2024, there were 1.61 million households facing home insurance affordability stress, which is defined as having premiums that cost more than four weeks’ of gross household income.

The figure represents a 30-percent increase from 1.24 million households 12 months earlier.

The report found that those 1.61 million households spend an average of 9.6 weeks of their gross annual income on home insurance, which is seven times more than non-stressed households.

The proportion of households spending more than four weeks’ gross income on home insurance premiums rose to 15 percent in 2024 – up from 12 percent in 2023 and 10 percent in 2022.

Median insurance premiums for all Australian homes rose by 9 percent between 2023 and 2024, the report said, and for properties with premiums in the top 5 percent they rose by 30 percent – typically due to floods and cyclones.

“While insurance remains generally affordable for 85 percent of households, it’s concerning that there’s now 1.6 million households struggling to afford to insure their homes, up from 1.24 million a year ago,” Sharanjit Paddam, lead author of the report, said.

“This is because increases in premiums are outpacing wages growth. Unfortunately, we expect this will continue because of the overall increasing risk of natural disasters associated with climate change, which will continue to put upward pressure on premiums.”

The Northern Territory, regional Western Australia, southwest Queensland and northern New South Wales had the highest rates of extreme affordability pressure, with half the population of those areas facing premiums that exceed a four weeks’ income due to the high flood and cyclone risk.