Aviva Flags Higher UK Home Subsidence Claims After Dry Summer

Aviva Plc has seen higher UK subsidence claims, the latest sign of the impact of this summer’s heat wave, which has dried out soil and caused the ground beneath homes to sink or shift.

The British insurer experienced a “peak subsidence period” in the third quarter and saw claims continue into October, Chief Executive Officer Amanda Blanc said in a phone interview after Aviva released its third-quarter trading update on Friday. Blanc didn’t specify by how much claims had risen but said the insurer still expects to achieve its profitability target for the year.

Shares rose as much as 2.5% in early London trading, with Barclays analyst Ivan Bokhmat writing in a note to clients that Aviva’s overall results were in line with expectations.

Insurance claims tied to subsidence — a phenomenon associated with bouts of hot, dry weather that shrink the soil and destabilize the foundations on which buildings stand — hit a record earlier this year, according to the Association of British Insurers.

Blanc said property owners can reduce the risk of subsidence by keeping drains, gutters and pipes in good repair and fixing leaks that may cause the ground to sink over time. “It’s about managing trees and plumbing.”

Read more: Londoners Find ‘Horrendous’ Cracks in Their Homes After Successive Heat Waves

The results come with insurers, as well as other asset owners, under increasing scrutiny over their exposure to artificial intelligence-related investments such as data centers.

“The exposure to what we call the big four hyperscalers is frankly less than £1 billion,” Chief Financial Officer Charlotte Jones said, speaking alongside Blanc in the interview. “To the broader AI group, it’s a bit more than that, but it’s something that we monitor,” she said. Aviva’s investment portfolio was valued at £89.3 billion ($118 billion) at the end of June.

“It’s an important investment class that we need to be in, but we’re in it at a very, very modest level.”

Photograph: Central London during the heat wave in July 2026; photo credit: Aaron Chown/PA Images/Getty Images

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