Flood properties bounce back Flood-affected property values have bounced back amid state surge

PROPERTIES in some Brisbane suburbs affected by floodwaters in 2011 have now surpassed pre-flood market values, according to experts. See where

Family outside their home at 35 Nadine street Graceville - l to r are Ross Duff , Phil Wikman , Linda D'Astole ...

BRISBANE’S real estate market is doing so well that most properties affected by floodwaters in 2011 have now surpassed pre-flood market values, according to experts.

Real Estate industry Queensland chief executive Antonia Mercorella said the majority of suburbs impacted in 2011 had bounced back to pre-flood sales volumes.

“Some of the standout suburbs include Jindalee, Moorooka and Oxley, which all recorded higher sales volumes over the 2013-2014 financial year than in the 2010 calendar year. Median house prices have also recovered strongly, returning to pre-flood levels in most flood-affected suburbs.

“Some suburbs such as Corinda, Graceville and Yeronga actually experienced an increase in median house prices over the flood period when there was a drop in demand for lower-priced properties.”

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National property valuation firm LMW Hegney director Mike Henderson said flood-affected properties were riding an upswing in the Brisbane market.

“The market for those sort of properties is in most cases at a higher level than pre-flood,” he said.

“All you do is follow the river around and you’ll see how the market values have risen. It comes back to the Brisbane property market being definitely in a better space. We’re getting growth and it’s not silly growth – it’s sustainable growth. The expectation is Brisbane is in an upswing and it’s our turn.”

QUT Science and Engineering Faculty Professor Chris Eves, who specialises in property economics, said the quick recovery was a surprise given generally Brisbane was expected to take four years to bounce back.

“That rebound wasn’t expected,” he said, but came because many of the affected suburbs were “still desirable areas to live”.

Within a year of the floodwaters receding, the higher value suburbs had “come back to where they were” with others now following the trend, he said.

“Repairs ran from east to west, starting with high value areas where they had access to their own funds or weren’t waiting for insurance claims to go through, then going to middle value areas when insurance claims were approved and then on to lower value areas where some were underinsured or didn’t have cover.”

Builder Todd Miller paid $915,000 for his Nadine Street property in Graceville’s flood zone a year ago, around $15,000 higher than the previous owner forked out in 2010, and way above the suburb’s $681,000 median price.

He then raised floor heights to meet new council requirements and renovated the riverfront property into three-storey “new age Queenslander” with habitable zones above flood level, and the bottom used for parking, the pool, the study and an alfresco zone.

“I’ve got five houses under construction under new flood rules within 3 kilometres of Graceville,” he said.

A flood affected Donatello Street house in Fig Tree Pocket sold for $600,000 in September, blitzing the $170,000 the last owner paid in 1991, but still great value given the area’s $869,000 median house price.

In Jindalee, an Amazons Place house looking over the river sold for $720,000 in May – around $45,000 more than the previous sale price and way above the area’s $475,000 median.

One area that has been slower to bounce back was Rocklea where the median house price dropped 4.2 per cent over five years, but even there, values have been looking better. A flood-ravaged Sherwood Road house sold for $335,000 last year, before undergoing extensive renovations that included lifting the entire home up a level to get habitable zones out of the highest flood mark. The previous owner had paid $340,000 in 2009.

The flood zone results were coming in higher in many cases despite RP Data figures finding real home values in Brisbane overall were “still lower than they were before the financial crisis”.

RP Data said real home values in Brisbane between December 2008 and September 2014 went backwards (-8.0 per cent), thought it added that was “not necessarily a bad thing”.

Originally published as Flood properties bounce back Flood-affected property values have bounced back amid state surge