Edgbaston is Birmingham's burglary hotspot

An article reported on the London Stock Exchange, Britain's most-burgled postcodes revealed, has revealed that Birmingham's B15 postcode is the 5th most likely UK postcode to claim for theft or burglary on their home insurance. The report draws on a recent press announcement by moneysupermarket.com, http://www.moneysupermarket.com/mediacentre/PressReleaseDocs/pr1054.rtf, which lists the top 20 postcodes to make a claim on their home insurance.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/mediacentre/PressReleaseDocs/pr1054.rtf

B15 contains the University of Birmingham and the large number of students in halls of residence may likely influence the finding but as Peter Gerrard, head of insurance at moneysupermarket.com, notes in areas which are affluent high premiums are likely as properties contain more expensive items and the B15 postcode is known for it's affluence rather than burglary.

“If your property is classified as being in a ‘high-risk' area – whether that be for crime, or something like flooding or subsidence, it could be reflected in your insurance premiums. Unfortunately there are no strict rules and even homes in an affluent area, relatively free from crime, could still suffer from high premiums as they may contain more expensive items. I would call on insurers to assess premiums on a case by case basis, rather than blacklisting whole cities or areas as ‘high-risk’.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/mediacentre/PressReleaseDocs/pr1054.rtf