How are Australia's changing weather extremes going to affect real estate?

NCAR and IAG have released a report examining current and future climate change impacts on the Australian climate and weather extremes that produce significant property, personal and economic damage and hardship.

When examining the effected areas of tropical cyclones (TCs), they found there has already been a southward shift of the regions where tropical cyclones reach peak intensity and this is expected to continue.

Tropical cyclone risks are expected to increase most rapidly in the south-east Queensland / north-east NSW regions, followed by the coastal districts south of Shark Bay in Western Australia.

The world has entered a new era of global TCs in which economic and insured losses are doubling every 15 years.

A frequent problem in Australia is bushfires and according to the latest trends in fire danger indices, they are likely to increase in almost all locations nationally, leading to more frequent and extreme events, and longer fire seasons.

The rate of increase varies by location and will depend on weather system changes and site specific factors at regional scales, which means different regions may see different impacts on property values.

"Sea level rise is expected to accelerate around the Australian coastline but at differing rates. It is notable that past assessments of sea level rise are lower than those that recent observations show," the report said.

"Areas at risk of large and giant hail should progressively shift southwards, with the largest increase in risk likely to be in the region inland from the Hunter River south through the central and southern New South Wales highlands and central to eastern Victoria."

A note which hold both potential and danger for property values is that intense short duration rainfall is expected to increase almost everywhere in Australia, resulting in more frequent flooding in urban areas and in small river catchments. 

However this may lead to increase rainfall in drought-ridden areas of Australia which could positively effect property values particularly of the agricultural variety.

To read the full report click here.