The median sale prices in some of Brisbane’s worst flood-effected areas have surged back into positive territory, with the property market strong and active.

Brisbane’s middle-inner ring of suburbs, 10-15km from the CBD, have recovered well since the floods of January 2011, with the heavily inundated suburbs of Rocklea, Toowong, Jindalee and Fairfield reporting median price gains between December 2010 and September 2015, according to the latest property statistics.

Toowoomba median values also jumped 28 per cent in this period from $265,500 to $342,000, according to CoreLogic RP data, while New Farm homes experienced a 22 per cent increase to $1.3425 million.

However, in Ipswich, prices have remained fairly flat and steady.

Real Estate Institute of Queensland chief executive Antonia Mercorella said while the floods had a devastating impact, the property market usually recovered quickly from such events, so she was unsurprised that Brisbane had recovered so well.

“Queenslanders realise that floods of a major scale are not all that common and are also a part of life,” she said.

“You could live in a home for 50 years and it will never flood, or by chance you could experience a one-in-100-year rain event.”

Ray White Bulimba sales agent Mark Diamond said following the devastation in Rocklea, buyers had initially been wary of the area.

“It was unknown territory at the time with people getting nervous and not wanting to buy,” he said.

“The banks didn’t want to touch the area and a lot of people had to put in larger deposits.

“In early 2013, we had trouble getting value above $300,000 but in early 2015, we cracked $500,000.

“We’ve also had a lot of interest from Sydney of late.”

Mr Diamond said buyer confidence in Rocklea was price-driven.

“It’s the best priced suburb within 10km of the CBD,” he said.

“And Rocklea hasn’t reached its limit – it has room to grow.

“The vacancy rate is still low and homes are having great success at auction.

“People are also starting to buy again on the Corso.”

Ms Mercorella said over time, governments had introduced new and better flood mitigation measures that meant damage to property could be lessened the next time around, depending on the quantity of rainfall.

Elders Toowoomba real estate agent and auctioneer Ashley North said that since January 2011, the local council had spent millions of dollars on flood mitigation measures such as retention bowls.

“Twelve months after the floods, they were still an issue and the question ‘Did this home go under?’ was always asked,” Mr North said.

“But the flood was a freak of nature and most properties were just in the wrong site at the wrong time.

Tap and drag the slider to reveal the before and after images of Milton restaurant, Andavanth.

“By the start of 2014, the market here had picked up dramatically and there had been a substantial rise in the market.

“The town has recovered so well and now it’s booming.”

Ray White Bundamba principal Luke Buckel said while the market in Brisbane’s western suburbs had “regained consciousness”, buyers in Ipswich were still uncomfortable with the “f” word.

This was particularly the case in suburbs which experienced rapid water rises, including North Booval, East and North Ipswich, Basin Pocket, Tivoli and Moores Pocket.

“Floods are a natural disaster that could happen any day of the week and most areas recover well and go back to normal pricing,” Mr Buckel said.

“But we’ve been financially penalised.

“Price still dictates the recovery process and with so much to choose from here, a $40,000 (price difference) gives people the right to be cautious.

“Flooded homes lost anywhere between 15-20 per cent but the real losers were the good quality four- and five-bedders.

“Insurance has also priced the market accordingly.”

In Brisbane’s inner city suburbs such as New Farm, water coming back through drains was the culprit of flooding rather than the city’s river breaking its banks.

However, Ray White New Farm sales agent Josh Brown said people were confident that work was being done to mitigate future flooding.

“The likelihood of flooding the way it did in New Farm is less,” he said.

“Plus history shows people do forget.”

Ms Mercorella said people looking at homes in flood-affected areas should assess their capacity for coping with disaster and check Brisbane City Council’s flood overlay maps.

“Judge for yourself how you would cope and make a decision based on that,” she said.

“But there is no way to predict with 100 per cent certainty whether your property will flood or not.

“The Brisbane City Council has very good flood overlays and you can see easily and quickly whether the property you are considering is in the flood zone.

“See if your property is in an area that has flooded in the past 100 years and use that as a guide to gauge flood risk to your property.

“However, the flood overlay map is not a predictor of future events, only a record of past events.”

Robyn and John Farrell’s Rocklea home went under in the 2011 floods. It has since been renovated. Picture: Mark Cranitch

Flood-hit suburb buyers are flocking to

THE majority of its streets are in high flood risk areas, according to Brisbane City Council’s flood awareness maps, however, it’s Rocklea’s proximity to the city and its low property prices that appeal to new home buyers and long-time owners.

Gareth and Alana Teixeira purchased their first investment property in Rocklea in May 2015.

Undeterred by the fact that it went under water in the 2011 floods, they bought the renovated four-bedroom home at 35 Goburra St for $502,000 at auction,

“We were a bit put off by buying a house in a flood area but the house was affordable and it was beautiful,” Mrs Teixeira said.

“Salisbury and Moorooka are really expensive and in the next five to 10 years, Rocklea is going to be really expensive too.”

Mrs Teixeira said insurance for flood-affected homes was “insane”.

“But if we bought another home, it would be in Rocklea,” she said.

Robyn and John Farrell have lived in Rocklea for 16 years and were lucky to escape from their home on Inskip St when the floods came through.

With them in their tinny boat were their labrador, two burmese cats and 64 two-day-old chinese ring-necked pheasants.

“We were a cross between the Beverly Hillbillies and Noah’s ark,” Mr Farrell said.

“We went to a friend’s place and came back four days later.

“I swam back into the house.”

Mr Farrell said like many other Rocklea residents, he and his wife thought of leaving the suburb after the floods.

“But Rocklea is the best suburb we’ve ever lived in,” he said.

“It’s a unique old school suburb and you can’t beat it.

“It’s the salt of the earth.”

Mr Farrell said the suburb’s older homes made from hardwood also withstood flood inundation remarkably well.

“We don’t look forward to the next flood but they’re not a fire or earthquake,” he said.

“They’re an inconvenience not a life-changing event.

“And from every flood, people have learnt a little.

“We feel confident this knowledge will help protect us again.”

Styling after a flood

THE house still had that wet smell almost two years later, when Jackie Folan-Murphy was called in to work some magic.

The Yeronga home, which had been inundated in 2011, was one of Ms Folan-Murphy’s first jobs when she launched her home staging and styling business Feather My Nest – and it’s one she will never forget.

“People got there and went ‘Oh god, it has gone under’. You could actually see how bad it was, and it still kind of had that wet smell,” she said.

“They had it on the market with an agent, and it just didn’t sell. They listed it with a new agent, styled it, and it sold literally within days for something like $22,000 over the asking price.

“It was a good result, because there is nothing more devastating than having a house go completely under and saying ‘What are we going to do with it – nobody’s going to buy it’.”

Ms Folan-Murphy styled the property from scratch, bringing in all the furniture and decorations from one of her suppliers.

Looking back now she laughs at how “blue” the styling was, but says it was a good lesson on how even a rundown house can attract buyers with some styling.

“Not every house is a million dollars, and not every house is beautiful. Even the ugly ducklings can benefit from styling, I believe,” she said.

Since then Ms Nolan has styled a range of houses, with her work winning the 2015 HIA Queensland award for property styling, and says everything from one-bedroom apartments to large family homes can benefit, no matter their price range.

“It’s the photographs that get people there, it’s all about getting people through the door,” she said.

“And it’s nice to have it all pretty once they get there, because most people can’t visualise how to use the space. A lot of it is just showing people how to use the space.”

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