The Queensland and Federal Governments have announced they will provide voluntary buyback offers for an additional 300 homes for flood-affected residents.  

The initiative, which is supported by the joint government Resilient Homes Fund, has already provided 473 offers to repurchase properties that face a high risk of flooding.   

The government says more than 370 homeowners have accepted offers, with 238 sale contracts settled.  

The jointly funded program was set up in May last year following the February/March floods, which resulted in $5.8 billion in insurance losses across NSW and Queensland, according to the Insurance Council of Australia.   

Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt says the additions to the fund will see it exceed initial estimates and provide “major relief” to more homeowners to escape flood-risk areas.   

“Original estimates for the program predicted just over 500 homes would be identified for purchase, and now more than 800 will be able to be bought back,” Mr Watt said.  

“These additional homes will be purchased through efficiencies identified in the existing disaster funding allocation. 

“By getting people out of harm’s way we can help to defend against the horrific loss of life, and property damage that we’ve seen in previous disasters.”  

The government says applications for the buyback program have closed but encourages affected homeowners to apply for Resilient Retrofit or Home Raising programs to help better protect their properties against future flood risk.   

The Queensland buybacks follow the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation (which the Resilient Homes Fund also supports) announcement last week that it will offer 1100 buybacks for homes in flood-affected Northern NSW.