Homes soon ‘high risk’
ALMOST 24,000 homes in our region are predicted to be effectively “uninsurable” by the end of the decade.
Australia’s growing home insurance affordability crisis is set to hit Queenslanders harder, with about 23,890 homes in the Groom, Wright and Maranoa districts expected to be high risk for insurance purposes against natural disasters by 2030.
New modelling from the Climate Council reveals one in 16 Queensland homes (6.5 per cent, or 193,232 dwellings) are projected to be “high risk” by 2030. This contrasts with a nationwide average of four per cent.
The ACCC found the cost of premiums has jumped 52 per cent in a decade, and a massive 178 per cent in the north.
People in Northern Australia are now paying an average of $1900 a year for their home insurance, while the rest of the country is paying less than half that – $900.
The Climate Council estimates more than half a million Australian properties will face annual premiums exceeding one per cent of their market value by the year 2030. For a family home worth $500,000, this would mean premiums costing $5000 every year.
Industry critics say such costs make properties “uninsurable,” but the industry disputes the tag.
“At present there is no area of Australia that is uninsurable, although there are some locations where there are clearly affordability and availability concerns,” an Insurance Council of Australia spokesperson said.
“Insurance prices risk, and that means that for those in flood-prone or cyclone-prone locations cover can be costly.”
House numbers considered high risk are expected to almost double in the next 80odd years, with 44,353 homes in the federal electorates.
Broken down into local government areas, riverine flooding is of greater concern for Western Downs and Lockyer Valley residents, while bushfires place more homes at a higher risk by 2030 and the following 80 years.
The calculation of those risks can change rapidly. Just last week, a global study of cyclone activity updated the probability of a category-three storm near Cairns from being a once-in-48 year event to a once-in-21 year event.
Climate Council economist Nicky Hutley said the purpose of the insurance report was to emphasise the idea that climate change had economic effects for individuals, “rather
than just some broader existential crisis”.