Price surge for caravans

DEMAND for caravans has reached new levels following widespread flooding in Queensland and NSW, a Covidfuelled domestic travel boom, and leisure industry supply shortages.

Small numbers of caravans emerging in the second-hand market are attracting strong competition from a variety of sources.

Pickles Auctions data for caravan and RV transactions shows the average sale price climbed from $13,200 in April 2021 to $18,000 in December 2021, before rising to $28,500 in February.

Jacqui Bollard, owner of the Tweed Coast Caravans business straddling the coastal border between NSW and Queensland, said that “since the floods it’s chaotic”.

“Everyone that has a recreational caravan that has been in storage, that has been written off,” she said.

“All of the holiday-makers have lost their caravan. People who live in caravans have lost their home.

“For people with flooded homes, the advice of insurance companies is to purchase a caravan in the mean time.

“Prices of caravans are going up even further.”

Tanim Ahmed, head of business intelligence and product for Datium Insights, said “industry-wide stock shortages have consistently brought down caravans available for sale, conversely leading to price spikes of used caravans in 2022”.

“The immediate impacts of the floods across the eastern seaboard is likely to further tighten stock levels and put pressure on prices to remain high over the next few months,” he said.

Steve Edwards, owner of Western Sydney-based caravan sales business Parravans, said used stock was sparse and that waiting lists for new caravan orders extended into late 2023.

“There’s just no product out there,” he said.

“The inquiry we’ve had for caravan hires since the floods have been through the roof.

“We hired our whole fleet out on the first weekend.”

Mr Edwards said he had not recorded a significant price increase in prices following the floods, partly because stock is hard to find.

Gumtree data recorded stable searches for used caravans and recreational vehicles following the floods.

A spokesman for Carsales.com.au and its Caravan and Camping Sales spin-off said there was no increase in online traffic in recent weeks, though the websites recorded “modest price increases” in some recreational vehicle categories.

Insurers have received about 162,000 claims totalling $2.4bn relating to the east coast floods, according to the Insurance Council of Australia.