Is Australia becoming more unliveable?

This is a particularly serious problem in Queensland. It is home to about 40% of the estimated 500,000 residences that will be essentially uninsurable.

Floods have wreaked havoc on Queensland in recent months. Brisbane, the state capital, received more than 70% of its annual rainfall in just three days in February.

Michelle Vine, whose East Brisbane home was destroyed along with decades of her artwork, adds, “I still feel pretty traumatized when it rains severely.”

“We had to leave since the house had become unlivable.”

According to insurers, the floods, which also hit New South Wales, will be Australia’s most costly flood disaster ever.

Insurance premiums were already increasing prior to this year.

Though soaring house prices are one issue, climate change is blamed by Australia’s peak insurance industry organization.

No sections of Australia are now uninsurable, according to the Insurance Council of Australia, but there are “obviously affordability and availability difficulties.”

The amount paid out by insurance on natural disaster damage claims has almost doubled in the last decade.

Home insurance premiums are nearly four times higher currently than they were in 2004.