{"id":217991,"date":"2025-10-22T14:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/217991\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T14:00:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:00:08","slug":"floods-have-devalued-australian-homes-by-42bn-experts-say-thats-the-cost-of-a-changing-climate-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/217991\/","title":{"rendered":"Floods have devalued Australian homes by $42bn. Experts say that\u2019s the cost of \u2018a changing climate\u2019 | Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Warwick Irwin returned home after a week away, he was shocked by the ruin inside.<\/p>\n

It was February 2022 and two days earlier his North Lismore house had flooded to the ceiling. \u201cIt was quite a mind-blowing experience when I got into the house when the water went down.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was eventually offered a buyback<\/a>, and used the money to buy elsewhere \u2013 \u201cwell above the flood level\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going to stay on but I thought about it and \u2026 there would always be an anxiety about the next flood,\u201d Irwin said. He was glad not to have sold at a loss, unlike others in the region.<\/p>\n

Warwick Irwin, whose destroyed belongings are pictured, has moved out of the flood zone of North Lismore. Photograph: Warwick Irwin<\/p>\n

Almost 2,000 homes in Lismore<\/a> were affected by flooding in 2022<\/a>, and the price gap between flood-prone and flood-free houses has since increased considerably, according to a new report by the Climate Council and property data firm PropTrack.<\/p>\n

Floods have collectively wiped $42.2bn from the value of Australian homes, the report shows, in an analysis of more than two decades of property data.<\/p>\n

It found the median value of a three-bed, two-bath home in a flood-prone zone as of April 2025 was $75,000 less than a home without flood risks. For the 2m flood-prone houses across Australia, at least 70% have had their values reduced by flood risk.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

Climate Councillor and economist Nicki Hutley<\/a>, a co-author of the report, said more than half of flood-prone properties were owned or rented by low-income families. \u201cThose are people for whom there is no choice but to take on that [flood] risk,\u201d she said. Climate risks were \u201cexacerbating intergenerational inequality\u201d in Australia, Hutley added.<\/p>\n

Kate Smolders, a Brisbane mother of two, sold her family home in Chelmer after it flooded in 2011 and 2022. \u201cWe knew we couldn\u2019t go through it again. We lost value on our home,\u201d she said. \u201cFamilies like mine are paying the price for climate inaction \u2013 not just emotionally, but financially.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chelmer topped the PropTrack report as the suburb with the greatest value loss for houses, of 10.6%, with an average impact of $303,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh-value suburbs that are also flood-exposed are repricing,\u201d the report found. \u201cOver time, this may lead to a structural divergence in housing wealth accumulation based on climate resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the properties at risk of flooding, 40% were in Queensland<\/a> and 30% in New South Wales.<\/p>\n

Kate Smolders\u2019 house flooded in 2011 and 2022 during the Brisbane floods. She had to sell and move as a result. Photograph: Kate Smolders<\/p>\n

Hutley said the report highlighted the need for a robust adaptation plan with funding for both community-level infrastructure \u2013 such as dam levees and raised roads \u2013 and support for individual households.<\/p>\n

Jason Byrne, a professor of human geography and planning at the University of Tasmania, who was not involved in the report, said the findings highlighted \u201cthe costs imposed by a changing climate and how our planning systems are struggling to cope\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing the beginnings of a response in some states \u2026 where more accurate flood mapping is informing planning decisions not to allow intensification of development in flood-prone areas,\u201d Byrne said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe development industry is quick to decry any effort in planning to limit development in flood-prone areas,\u201d Byrne said. \u201cWe have seen some councils in South Australia effectively choosing to ignore their flood mapping because it is seen to harm prospects for future development.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need politicians and decision-makers to develop the courage to stand up to powerful lobby groups and vested interests to protect vulnerable people,\u201d he said, citing unaffordable insurance premiums.<\/p>\n

\u201cStupid\u201d planning decisions were \u201cputting people in harm\u2019s way\u201d, Hutley agreed. \u201cWe have information about what climate risk looks like, whether it\u2019s coastal inundation or riverine flooding or bushfire risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re making homes more vulnerable, it\u2019s going to cost us all a lot more in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Warwick Irwin returned home after a week away, he was shocked by the ruin inside. It was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-217991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}