Flood risk threatens future property value collapse

Climate-change fuelled riverine flooding is expected to cause a relative loss of property value around Australia of $170 billion by 2050 as buyers adjust for very high insurance costs, a risk assessment company has warned.

Climate Valuation, which provides analysis on individual properties, says the overall estimate would represent a loss equivalent to $45,000 per exposed premises.

“Everyone in high flood risk suburbs needs to recognise that they may have to face similar scenarios as those we have seen this week in coastal Queensland and NSW,” CEO Karl Mallon said.

Climate Valuation has also identified around a million properties in 30 local government areas at risk at the end of this decade. Municipalities with the highest number of properties exposed include Brisbane, Gold Coast, Shepparton, Horsham, Wangaratta, Canning, Central Coast and Newcastle.

“There is no failure in the insurance industry, this is a failure in the property market if it is allowing vulnerable people to move into vulnerable properties in high-risk locations,” Dr Mallon said.

“Instead of watching properties collapse in value, it would make more sense to invest the equivalent money in adaptation and loss prevention.”

Dr Mallon says planning and building codes should be upgraded, a grants program will be needed to overhaul high-risk housing and governments must provide leadership for communities to prepare for climate impacts.

“It’s unfair and unacceptable to leave people in harm’s way when we know the high-risk addresses, and we know which can be protected and which will need to be moved,” he said.

Other municipalities in the list for most properties exposed include Ballina, Port Phillip, Tweed, Charles Sturt, Western Downs, Logan, Lismore, Greater Bendigo, Launceston, Melbourne and Port Adelaide Enfield.

Dr Mallon also says “it is only fair” that Australians get access to the information that banks, insurers and governments already have about risk.