This NSW house sold for $347. It came with a catch

Character-filled homes in the Northern Rivers are selling for as low as $347, with bidding starting at just $1. They’re a bargain and savvy investors and first home buyers are snapping them up – but there’s a catch.

Hundreds of flood-affected homes in the region are expected to go up for auction, but buyers will need to bring their own land.

This Kyogle home sold for just $347.Credit: Reconstruction Authority

After some blocks of land in Lismore and other flood-prone areas of the Northern Rivers were deemed too dangerous to live on after the 2022 floods, the Reconstruction Authority bought back 670 houses from flood-affected owners.

Some of those homes are going up for auction, selling for less than the average home deposit in NSW. The catch is, within 12 months the buyer is expected to move the house to their own, non-flood zone land.

“The bones and the features of these properties and the materials, particularly the flooring and the hardwood you just can’t buy,” local property investor Shaun Haysom said.

Haysom bought one of the flood-affected homes at auction for $20,000, and intends to move it to land he owns in another suburb and rent out the house. The appeal of buying a character-filled house isn’t just for personal preference, but about return on investment, Haysom said.

Shaun Haysom in his new investment property, which he plans to relocate to Ballina. Credit: Natalie Grono

“I sold a new build a couple of years ago … I got a good price for mine, but it was less than what these older character homes were going for,” he said.

“This is cheaper than a complete new build, it’s definitely a faster turnaround.”

So far, the cheapest sale of the auction was a modest three-bedroom home near the Richmond River in Kyogle, which was bought by the Reconstruction Authority for $380,000 and sold this year at auction for just $347.

The most expensive home so far in South Lismore sold for $101,000. The government is also unlocking land on higher ground, which will allow relocating home owners the chance to buy an affordable parcel of land to move their house to.

What you can buy with $347

• 48 journeys through the Cross City Tunnel 
• An Akubra Dusty Dawn hat in the colour spice 
• 188 pieces of KFC original recipe fried chicken 
• A JBL Xtreme 4 portable speaker (on sale)
• A marked-down Alemais Diana summer dress
• A Netflix subscription for 18 months 
• One return journey from Sydney to Brisbane with Virgin Australia
• 15 dirty martinis at Bar Planet in Enmore
• 10 Labubus (Big Into Energy series) 
• A three-course menu (with wine) for one person at Bennelong restaurant 

So far 45 homes have been sold, including mostly weatherboard houses with between two and four bedrooms. The properties are being advertised directly through local real estate agencies, since online property platforms don’t allow house-only sales.

“Each home that goes into this relocation program has a full hazard assessment to consider whether it has such things as asbestos in the home or other hazardous materials, whether it’s being too badly damaged by the flood and therefore it’s not suitable for relocation,” Reconstruction Authority Head of Adaptation, Mitigation and Reconstruction Amanda Leck said.

Buyers at the auctions have been a mix of flood-impacted locals looking for a new home, local renters looking for an affordable way into the property market, and investors adding to local rental stock, Leck said.

The velocity of the floodwaters warped some of the homes so greatly that the structures became twisted, and these homes will be demolished, Leck said.

The demolition of buyback homes in Lismore has become a divisive issue for locals. The Northern Rivers is struggling with homelessness, and squatters quickly moved into several of the government-owned homes that were sitting empty after the floods.

Community groups and The Greens are protesting against the demolition of flood-prone homes, arguing the better outcome is to allow people with nowhere else to go to live in the homes until they are relocated.

The 2022 floods were one of Australia’s worst flood disasters. Across NSW, nine people died and thousands of people displaced. In Lismore, floodwaters peaked at 14.4 metres – well above the previous records.

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