For most New Zealanders, our home is the biggest asset we will ever have.
Home ownership is something we strive for, view almost as a right, and something we feel is a rock-solid long-term investment in our futures - both practical and financial.
Although it seems a never-ending struggle balancing mortgage payments with the rest of life's financial commitments, we know at the end of the tunnel there should be financial freedom and security - a significant valuable asset.
Property has long been considered a good business investment, too, and many landlords own property, with a range of commercial or residential tenants, and varying from sizeable portfolios to those with only one rental property helping earn them extra perhaps to pay off their own mortgage.
But recent events have shaken the perception - both in New Zealand and abroad - of the maxim ''safe as houses''.
The collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market in the United States led to the global financial crisis, and suddenly property owners the world over were forced out of their homes, or left paying vastly more on mortgage payments than their houses were worth.
As debate rages about the effects - or not - of climate change, we watch footage of cyclones, tornadoes, landslips and coastal erosion destroying property, homes and lives.
Devastating pictures of the loss of lives and homes after the 2004 Boxing Day and 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunamis will forever be etched in people's minds.
And of course the Canterbury earthquakes changed the face of property ownership in New Zealand, leaving thousands homeless, in limbo and often in debt, and the rest of the country realising our vulnerability.
In the wake of the earthquakes, the devastation to infrastructure and the building failures that claimed lives here, New Zealand has undergone a seismic revolution in terms of building regulations and insurance.
For owners of commercial buildings, the costs of footing some of the new requirements have been insurmountable, and heritage buildings are among those going to wrack and ruin, at personal cost to landlords, and heritage cost to towns and cities.
Homeowners throughout the country have also been affected, with almost immediate hikes in insurance premiums, and now a substantial change in the method of insuring property.
That change was highlighted in this newspaper yesterday with a warning from Brighton's Big Rock School principal David Grant for homeowners to check their house insurance as he and his family plan for Christmas in rental accommodation after losing their house to a fire in July.
The fire occurred just hours after he renewed his insurance policy under the changes, but the family subsequently found they were underinsured when it came to the cost of rebuilding their home, as they had chosen the suggested ''default'' sum insured, which turned out to be $80,000 less than the sum insurance assessors estimated after the fire it would cost to rebuild their home.
His warning came only weeks after
quantity surveying company Construction Cost Consultants said its research showed changes to home insurance policies were leaving up to 90% of homeowners underinsured - by as much as 25%-50%, claims dismissed by the Insurance Council as scaremongering.
Insurance policy changes came into effect for most policy-holders in July. Policies used to be for ''unlimited full replacement''.
Policies now require the actual ''maximum sum insured'' to be stated and that is the figure up to which insurers will pay out.
If homeowners are underinsured, they will not be able to rebuild their house in its existing form.
There is undoubtedly work involved on the part of homeowners to establish what it would cost to rebuild their home.
The ''default'' sum insured stated in their policy, provided by banks and insurers, may be accurate for some.
However, few houses are the same and there are many aspects and eventualities to consider, for example retaining walls and difficult street access, which could complicate rebuilding, and therefore need to be accounted for.
Online calculators can be used to give a reasonable idea of rebuilding costs, and others might consider paying for a professional to fully evaluate their properties.
Regardless of the approach, homeowners must ensure they have appropriate cover.
