Insurers will soon have better data on flood-prone areas of central Queensland, when the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) releases version five of its national flood information database.

Better flood mapping is already leading to significant premium reductions, particularly when councils supply data on floor heights.

When the Tweed and Byron shires in NSW conducted a joint flood study, IAG reduced premiums on 9300 addresses by an average of 53%, it says.

“Overall, we have been able to reduce premiums by an average of 7% when we have access to the best available council data,” a spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

Premiums may also rise, but ICA GM Policy, Risk & Disaster Karl Sullivan says better information generally leads to lower premiums.

And not only is more data being provided, but the quality is increasing. The new version of the flood database will include much better data on areas such as Emerald, Sapphire and Rubyvale in central Queensland, plus more information from NSW.

Emerald’s data indicates although land might be flood-prone, most construction has occurred above flood lines.

“You would expect to see the market start to react to that,” Mr Sullivan told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

He says it is hard to quantify the savings to consumers, given prices are already falling in the soft market.

“If you look at it straight on a dollar-for-dollar, before-and-after basis, you generally find that most people benefit,” he said.