In Australia, the growing housing crisis is sharply coming into focus against the backdrop of escalating climate challenges.
As the country grapples with rising rents and home prices, the increasing frequency of extreme weather events—most recently Cyclone Alfred, which devastated Queensland and Northern New South Wales—is exacerbating affordability issues by driving up insurance costs and challenging economic resilience.
“Australia is the driest inhabited continent and is already experiencing the impacts of climate change, including bushfires, droughts, sea-level rises, and flood disasters,” said Associate Professor Ameeta Jain from Deakin University.
Jain said one in 25 Australian properties “will be effectively uninsurable by 2030.”
Research is pivotal as Australia addresses these dual crises.
Matthew Bowes from the Grattan Institute noted the concurrent ownership and rental crunch.
“While wages have been growing at about 4% a year, rents in capital cities have been rising about 8% a year,” Bowes said.
This disparity makes saving for a home increasingly difficult for renters, especially in light of the latest REA Group’s Rental Affordability Report, which showed a dramatic drop in rental affordability, marking the lowest levels since 2008, with just 36% of rentals being affordable to households earning the median income of $116,000 in the latter half of 2024.
Bowes highlighted the necessity of evidence-led solutions that could reshape housing policies to tackle the root causes effectively.
The challenge extends beyond mere affordability to include the suitability of housing designs to withstand climatic changes.
Jain, together with her colleague Tom Keel, is developing tools that could aid homeowners and developers in enhancing the climate resilience of housing designs.
She revealed a startling statistic for Shepparton, Victoria, where “almost 90% of properties will be uninsurable by 2030” due to climate impacts.
Hemant Pullabhotla, an economist at Deakin University, explored the broader implications of climate change on the economy and mental health.
Pullabhotla’s research is delving into how these factors, often overlooked, are crucial for creating resilient communities and influencing policy.
“Understanding – and effectively communicating – the broader scale of these impacts allows policymakers to make informed decisions,” he said.
