Flood-affected residents of South Australia are concerned that their homes will increase in value as the market booms, resulting in higher council rates.
Councils across Australia are working on proposing draft annual business plans and budgets to their communities, with many suggesting rate increases, leaving South Australians to worry about their finances.
Sue Dowden, who owns a riverfront shack in Younghusband that has been uninhabitable since December 2022, told ABC that her property was valued at $450,000 for the 2022/23 financial year, which might change as the market booms.
As councils work on proposing rate increases, Dowden said she was worried about how much her property would cost, despite being uninhabitable.
“Now, really, our property is just land value,” Dowden said, as reported by ABC. “You could drive past our shack, and it looks like it's still standing, but if you go and peer in the windows, you see it's just a shell of the place. There [are] no amenities, there [are] no cupboards, there's no toilet, [and] there's nothing in there.”
Mid Murray Council Mayor Simone Bailey said the council expects damaged properties to be assessed.
“It seems to us [the valuer-general] has done a blanket valuation where most properties on the River Murray have decreased them in value by around 15%,” she said, as reported by ABC. “I encourage anyone, especially anyone who needs a demolition, to email the valuer-general as soon as possible and ask that your valuation be reduced appropriately to reduce your rate liability.”
Some parts of Australia have become “uninsurable” as the country faces more frequent and severe weather events.
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) said higher premiums resulted from the industry's readjustment to more frequent extreme weather.
“Each insurer has their own underwriting [insuring] criteria and will use these criteria to determine the risks underlying individual policies and policy categories,” an ICA spokesperson said, as reported by The Guardian.
Backing the 2023-24 budget for disaster resilience, ICA CEO Andrew Hall said in a previous statement: “With households grappling with cost-of-living pressures, reducing the physical risks to homes and communities is critical for taking pressure off insurance costs.
“We know that communities across the east coast are still recovering from the floods in 2022, which were the costliest in history, so it is welcoming to see the government continue its commitment to fund disaster resilience and measures to protect Australian communities from extreme weather.”
