Home owners in Stoke Newington in north London are the most likely to have made a claim for theft or burglary on their home insurance policy, research suggested today.
MoneySupermarket.com analysed some three million home insurance quotes run on its website and found that for every 1,000 people living in Stoke Newington, covering the postcode N16, almost 34 had previously made a theft-related claim.
Seventeen areas, including Bodelwyddan in Denbighshire, Wales, Elgin in Moray, Scotland, Peterlee in County Durham and Helston in Cornwall, were found to be the least likely to have made such a claim, effectively recording none per 1,000 people.
Meanwhile Apperley Bridge in Bradford, covering the postcode BD10, and West Bromwich in the West Midlands, with the postcode B71, recorded almost 32 claims per 1,000 enquiries in the UK-wide burglary hotspots study.
London and Yorkshire feature particularly strongly in the chart showing the highest proportion of burglary claims, including Streatham, Wood Green and Mill Hill in the capital as well as swathes of Bradford, Leeds, Doncaster and Sheffield.
Julie Fisher, head of home insurance at MoneySupermarket.com said: "Being in a higher risk area doesn't necessarily mean where you live is bad or rife with crime - many thieves will target more affluent areas purely for the rewards on offer."
The website urged people to install measures such as security lighting to deter thieves as well as replacing old locks.
The quotes analysed were run on the website between December 1 2010 and November 30 last year.
Here are the 20 UK postcodes most likely to have made a burglary or theft claim on their home insurance according to the study, including the postcode district and the number of theft claims per 1,000 enquiries:
- N16, Stoke Newington, London
- BD10, Apperley Bridge, Bradford
- B71, West Bromwich, West Midlands
- N22, Wood Green, London
- LS13, Bramley, Rodley, Swinnow, Leeds,
- LS15, Austhorpe, Barwick-in-Elmet, Colton, Cross Gates, Halton, Halton Moor, Scholes, Whitkirk, Leeds
- BD18, Saltaire, Shipley, Windhill, Wrose, Bradford
- LS7, Chapel Allerton, Chapeltown, Little London, Meanwood, Potternewton, Sheepscar, Leeds
- DN2, Intake, Wheatley, Wheatley Hills, Doncaster
- SW16, Streatham, London
And if you live here, perhaps there's less need for worry: these are the postcode districts least likely to have made a claim:
- LL18, Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire
- IV30, Elgin, Moray
- SR8, Peterlee, County Durham
- PR25, Leyland, Lancashire
- LA9, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria
- CF39, Porth, Rhondda
- LE15, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire
- HR4, North Hereford, Hereford
- BN23, Eastbourne, East Sussex
- EH22, Dalkeith, Midlothian