With the hip pockets of flood-affected Queenslanders already hurting, it looks like the rebuilding effort may be weighed down by price increases from milk to moveable houses.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has already warned of scammers posing as donation collectors for the flood appeal. But there are shops and business whose products are under demand post-flood, and some Queenslanders have noticed higher than usual prices.
Bread, milk, vegetables: similar or up
According to YouTube’s Fat Aussie Bastard, stores in Ipswich have been charging $9 for bread, up from $2.50, and $8 for a litre of milk. Consumers in Spring Hill have been limited to just two bottles of milk per person, with meat and vegetables up. However some Queenslanders are reporting similar or lower prices in their local, so for those paying the big bucks for milk, check those out.
Eggs: up or non-existent
Apparently unless you have a flock of chickens in your back yard, eggs are hard to come by.
Coffee: up $1.50
And for those who are going back to work, one city worker has noticed coffee shops jacking up their prices by $1.50, possibly due to the aforementioned milk situation.
Movable houses: up by $50,000-$75,000
With some houses in Brisbane, Toowoomba and Ipswich unsalvageable, we’ve also noticed prices on movable housing going up. Before the floods one Crikey reader’s alerts on new houses had three-bedroom Queenslanders at between $75,000 and $100,000, with alerts for similar properties since Monday around $150,000.
Rental prices: up by $35-50 a week
For renters, Domain is betting the situation is not going to get any better. With many families displaced by last week’s floods, the rebuilding of houses will mean more competition for rental properties, and higher prices. In the three months to December 2010, the median weekly rent for greater Brisbane was $365 for houses and $350 for units. It’s been reported landlords are now charging more than $400 for properties.
Party ice: from $3.50 a bag to between $6-7 a bag
With more than 10,000 homes in Queensland unable to be reconnected to the power grid, ensuring milk, vegetables and butter don’t go off means ice is in high demand.
Pool salt: MIA
Because flood water brought mud and debris into the backyard oasis of many Queensland homes, pool salt is in high demand. One Crikey reader reckons they can’t find it anywhere.
Have you noticed a price hike since the Queensland floods? Leave your comments or drop us a line…
Too bad if you’re unemployed as well as being homeless! Now we need all those dairy farmers who were forced to sell up due to de-regulation? $8 per litre of milk? I suppose if people can afford it, they could buy a bread maker, but the milk??I feel for them, particularly families with kids or elderly people. Dairy foods are important in their lives!
I wonderf how much prices would/shhould rise if we made anything in this country anymore? You know, little things like white goods (once an Oz world beater), furnishings from our wondeful hardwoods & wool, even electronics – any old fossils recall AWA?
But that’s just my Dreamtime recollections of waayyy back, almost 40 yrs….
@AR – Yes, I remember AWA (still going I think, but not made here anymore?) I also recall HMV and the fridges etc that were made here. I recall owning a well know fridge – they were made here and New Zealand from memory. I recall visiting a factory at Bowral or Mittagong that made bed linen – the women were suffering from RSI. There was Bonds and Berlei and King Gee, Bulli Spinners that made fabric and sheets. Towels were made here – I think a couple still do, but sadly, lots have moved off shore. We’re not sustainable are we?
I was shocked to learn how much food we import. (thanks to Bob Katter? – I did not know how serious the situation is?)We have some of the best wool in the world, but go to a major store that sells wool to knit/crochet/crafts etc and you’ll find it may have come from Turkey but dyed etc here? I realise that New Zealand wool is better for carpets(that was what I was told years ago anyway?) – that’s been the case for a long time now! It’s quite depressing isn’t it?Go and look at the fabrics for clothes, and you’ll be lucky to find one that’s made here – even the cotton materials are made overseas – perhaps using our cotton, perhaps not! The fact that we export coal, iron ore, uranium etc doesn’t excuse us getting rid of these vital manufacturing industries. We’ll rue the day in years to come I believe. What if we end up being bad friends with China for example? So many clothes including underwear are made in China?
Most depressing!
Ha! Are you kidding? White goods even 20 years ago were a complete rip off; $5000 fridges, $10000 plasma tvs, etc. That’s not even accounting for inflation. I’m not old enough to go back 40 years, but I find it hard to believe the price of every day goods would be lower pre-china and pre-globalization.
ROBOTSNEEDLOV2 – $5000 for a frig? I don’t think so! We couldn’t have afforded to pay that sort of money. Plasma TV’s weren’t around 20 yrs ago? I can remember 40 yrs ago – with 3 kids and 30-40 yrs ago with a new Frigidaire frig either made in Australia or NZ? Our (new – public housing)house was only worth $8480 – small 3 BR on a 1/4 acre block.
There’s ‘price’ and ‘price’? What price have we paid for getting rid of our manufacturing industries? What has globilization done for impoverished countries/people? Nothing but bad things have resulted -their skills and means of feeding their families were overtaken by the IMF or the World Bank, resulting in further poverty.