The drought and its effect on the property market

[letiha]

What are everyone's thoughts on the drought, in some regional area obviously it will have some effects on the population as there will be less work, less workers less of a demand for rentals. But what about cities such as Brisbane, we are currently on level 4 water restrictions, the dams are at 27% (something like that).

Will the shortage of water affect the cities population, if it gets worse will it lead to people leave, i saw the article in the Courier mail a few weeks ago that said Brisbane's population will double by 2026, i wonder if an ongoing drought will have any effect?

 

[jahn]

Hi
If they leave, where will they go.?
The central Coast with a growing population has a dam that has never been 100% full, is 15% full at the moment, and the local councils have done nothng to fix/change the situation except buy water from Newcastle
Residents will get fined for even having a hose attached to the tap, or for using water from a bucket from an outside tap.
They are however, aloud to wash their windscreens on the car !
I believe in Goulburn, some Restaurants use disposable plates etc due to even more serious shortage than C/Coast

I know.
Send them down here to Newcastle. We are selling water and putting in another dam with twice our present capacity (our IP's values might rise)

On the other hand, don't know what to say about the country areas because it seems tooo serious and widespread to contemplate.

jahn

 

[Dis]

I think capital city property is insulated from any direct effect of drought. If it becomes commercially viable (supply vs demand) they will provide water by any means necessary (recycle, desalinate, etc). There may be some indirect effects if the economy slows due to less farm production.

Regionals are alot more vulnerable. Its not just farmers hurting. All the businesses based on farmers also suffer. If a few major employers start down sizing, property prices will plunge. In the past some people would see this as a chance for a bargin, but I thinks this one is a one way trip.

A recent program I saw on climate change said there were some areas in Australia which would actually become more productive with drier conditions.

Cyclones in far north QLD are also set to be more frequent, so its not just the big dry to worry about.

 

[dave99]

Water prices are heavily regulated, so the price rises required to fund desalinisation and other methods may not appear. I am not sure about commercial water charges, are these also fixed?

- Dave99

 

[Bloss]

It always amazes me how much water we use on land and how little is done to save the water we have.

last time we were in Rockhampton the barrage was open letting nearly a million litres of fresh water a day down the river. Surely it would be cheaper to run pipelines to other areas than build desalination plants.

Yesterday afternoon under our house got flooded by a storm in Brisbane. There was a bloody river of it running down the street. Where does it go? Down the drain and out to sea. Maybe we need to concentrate on collecting this.

When were on the boat we can manage to make 50 litres last a couple of weeks if we have to as we have to manualy pump water from the tanks instead of just turning it on and letting it run down the sink. We could also have a shower for two washing long hair using a 5 litre weed sprayer.

Saying that though , when we came asure we let that shower water run long and hard.

Bloss

 

[Goldminer]

Reduced my own personal water consumption by 60%

Just a little over 3 years ago i installed 2 water tanks plus a pump, use water to wash car, a small amount on the garden, in the washing machine plus to the toilet and i also installed a water efficient shower rose. My consumption has reduced by 60% and i still get rainwater gushing out the overflow of the tank.

 

[newtoinvesting]

brisbane water shortage

I don't think brisbane will have to much trouble in the long term as there building a new dam and also gold coast water is at 96% full and they are now sending water up north and also the gold coast is building a new desalination plant I beleive.