What Actually Stops a Break-In? A Door and New Locks Cost About What Cameras Do

How often Australian homes are broken into

The ABS Crime Victimisation survey found 1.8% of households, about 196,600, had at least one break-in in 2024-25. Another 2.0%, about 217,500, had an attempted break-in, so more households saw a failed attempt than a successful one. The break-in rate has fallen by a third in a decade, from 2.7% in 2014-15, and it was 2.1% in 2023-24.

Police counts miss a large share. The ABS says 69% of households reported their most recent break-in to police, and only 45% reported an attempt. Risk also varies by state. Pooling 2023 to 2025, the ABS puts the break-in rate at 7.7% in the Northern Territory, 2.5% in Queensland, 2.3% in WA, 2.1% in Tasmania, 1.9% in Victoria, 1.5% in NSW and 1.4% in South Australia.

Recorded crime is falling too. The ABS counted 13,312 burglary victims in WA in 2025, the lowest number in its thirty-three-year series. BOCSAR recorded 17,941 break and enter dwelling incidents in NSW in the 12 months to June 2026, down from 29,020 in the 12 months to June 2017. In Victoria, The Nightly reported 24,277 residential burglaries in the year to March 2026, citing Crime Statistics Agency data, a fall of 14% on the year before.

How burglars say they get in

The most cited Australian study of burglars is small and old, and it relies on what offenders say about themselves. In July and August 2012 the Australian Institute of Criminology surveyed police detainees in Western Australia and kept the 69 who admitted a burglary in the past year. By their own account, two-thirds (66.2%) typically entered through unlocked doors or windows, and the rest broke a door or window. Three-quarters said they got in within five minutes, and 57.8% described their burglaries as spontaneous, against 32.8% who planned them. Nearly half (46.2%) said they would go in while someone was home if they thought they could avoid detection.

The same 69 offenders said what drew them to a house. Valuables left in view came first at 29.0%, and 10.8% named carelessly hidden keys. Queensland Police say offenders often break into homes to steal car keys, and call vehicle theft the primary driver of home break-ins. A rekey is for keys you can no longer account for: after moving into a home whose old keys are still out there, after losing a set, or after hiding a spare where a stranger could find it. Rekeying the locks ($350) changes the pins so the old keys stop working, and it does nothing for a door left unlocked.

Other measures put the unlocked share much lower. Police-coded data for Melbourne in 2018, reported by SBS from the Crime Statistics Agency, found almost 1 in 5 burglars forced a door and almost 14% came through an unlocked door. In an ABS survey of WA households in 2004, 40% of break-in victims said the point of entry was unlocked. Offender accounts, police coding and victim reports measure different things, so the three figures do not form a trend.

Security doors and rekeying: the door and lock layer

Victoria Police's home burglary checklist starts with deadlocks on all external doors and windows, then a security screen door. At Going Rate's prices, one security door ($1,550) plus a rekey of the house ($350) costs about the same as a typical CCTV install ($1,850). The security door alone costs more than four times the rekey.

Rental law sets a floor for this layer. In Victoria, external entry doors must have functioning deadlocks or a lock that opens with a key from outside and without one from inside, with limited exceptions. In WA, the main entry needs a deadlock or a key-lockable security screen door that meets AS 5039-2008. Queensland's standard requires working locks or latches on external doors and windows that can be reached without a ladder. In NSW, a landlord who changes a lock must give the tenant a copy of the new key within 7 days, the Tenants' Union of NSW says.

The test standard for screen doors has changed. AS 5041-2003 has been superseded by AS 5039.3:2023, Security door and window screens, Methods of test, according to the Standards listing. Building Connection's 2018 guide lists the AS 5041 tests as dynamic impact, jemmy, pull, probe, shear and knife shear. Owners who would rather use a code than keys can fit a keypad smart lock ($500), about 1.4 times the price of a rekey at Going Rate's prices.

Alarm systems: what burglars say and what the outcome data shows

Offenders rate alarms highly in their own accounts. Of the 69 self-admitted burglars in the AIC's WA interviews, 49.1% named a working alarm as a deterrent, second only to a dog at 61.4%. An ABS survey of WA households in 2004 points the same way. Households where a break-in succeeded were less likely to have an alarm (26%) than households where it was only attempted (45%). That survey covered victims only, so it suggests a link without proving one.

Outcome research from England and Wales points the other way. Tseloni and colleagues analysed the Crime Survey for England and Wales from 2008 to 2012 and found burglar alarms and dummy alarms gave less protection than no security. External lights and door double locks or deadlocks were the most effective single devices. No comparable Australian study was found.

A typical alarm system ($2,950) costs nearly twice as much as a security door ($1,550) at Going Rate's prices. Add a year of back-to-base monitoring ($820) and the first year costs nearly twice the door and lock layer. Canstar says home security systems won't necessarily save you money on insurance, though it reports that Youi may consider an alarm connected to 24/7 monitoring when calculating premiums.

CCTV installation: the layer Australians buy most

Cameras topped the list. In Compare the Market's March 2024 survey of 1,010 adults, more than 1 in 5 had installed security cameras in the past 12 months. Motion sensor lights came next at 12%, then alarms at 8.7% and deadlocks at 8.6%.

The strongest camera evidence comes from public spaces overseas, mostly in the UK. A Campbell review pooled 41 CCTV evaluations, 34 of them in the UK, from city centres, public housing, public transport and car parks. It found a 16% fall in crime in the areas studied and a 51% fall in car parks, and it found only 2 evaluations in residential areas, which it kept out of the pooled result. A 2019 international update covering 40 years of studies found a modest decrease in crime, significant in residential areas, and said CCTV should not be deployed as a stand-alone measure. None of these studies measures a camera on a single house.

A typical CCTV install ($1,850) cost more than five times a rekey ($350). Bought separately, the cameras and an alarm ($2,950) cost about two and a half times the door and lock layer at Going Rate's prices. An alarm and camera package ($3,250) costs about 1.7 times the door and locks. Canstar says cameras, smart doorbells and motion sensors won't necessarily reduce your premiums.

Security screens and Crimsafe for the whole house

A screened door or window can stay open for air and still be locked. That matters given what the AIC's 69 self-admitted burglars said in 2012, when two-thirds reported usually coming through unlocked doors or windows. WA's rental rules accept a compliant security screen in place of window locks, and WA Seniors Card's security rebate only counts screen doors that meet AS 5039-2008. A screen door with a pet door is not eligible.

Security screens across a house's windows and doors ($4,000) cost about 2.6 times one security door at Going Rate's typical prices, because they cover many openings instead of one. Crimsafe screens for a house ($6,500) cost about 1.6 times that typical screen job. Both prices move with the number of openings, so the ratio says nothing about the price of a single Crimsafe screen.

Offenders rank screens lower than alarms. Only 19% of the AIC's 69 self-admitted burglars named grilled windows or doors as a deterrent. In the ABS WA survey from 2004, 44% of households with a completed break-in had security screens on all external doors, against 50% of households with only an attempt. Going Rate also prices security window film, per square metre ($120).

What a break-in costs, and what insurers reward

The Insurance Council of Australia said in September 2026 that Victorian insurers received almost 3,900 property theft and burglary claims costing more than $56 million in the last year, leading the nation. The Nightly reports these as 2025-26 figures. The ICA does not say whether that category covers homes only. On those rounded figures, Going Rate calculates an average of more than $14,000 per claim, and that average covers only households that claimed.

Older AIC research put the unit property loss for a residential burglary at $1,413 in 2011 prices. The ABS says 69% of households with a break-in in 2024-25 had something stolen and 44% had property damaged.

At Going Rate's prices, an alarm and camera package ($3,250) costs less than a quarter of that average claim. No source here shows how much any system lowers the chance of a claim. Victoria Police lists deadlocks, a security screen door, a monitored alarm, cameras and sensor lighting together and does not rank them.

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