Mr Michael Cooper, Manager of Archicentre Tasmania, the building advisory service of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects said: "Australian home owners could face a drought damage bill of over $350 million as a result of cracking in residential properties."

"Whilst the cost to the farming sector is quite evident, the urban cost of drought especially, in the damage to homes and commercial buildings is often hidden."

"With the drought continuing we are urging people to carry out a cracking audit on their homes for safety and asset value protection."

"Home owners should not be complacent about cracking and should monitor it carefully as movement in the home could result in other defects being caused such as leaking roofs or damaged pipes."

"The cost of cracking repairs can range from several hundred dollars for a basic patch and paint job on small plaster cracking to tens of thousands dollars on major structural cracking," Mr. Cooper said.

"We have seen cracking faults cost up to $50,000 to repair."

People purchasing homes should ensure they have a professional assessment of cracking in structural areas such as walls.

Mr. Cooper warned that prospective purchasers of apartments should be looking for cracks not only in their own apartment but anywhere else on the building. In the instances of multi level apartments, cracking can be extremely costly to body corporate management bodies which can levy payments from all residents, he said.

The Archicentre national data base shows 38% of the homes on which Archicentre had conducted pre-purchase inspections have cracking. We believe that 10% of all homes are likely to have or will develop serious cracking.

Mr Cooper said, "The eight year drought is taking a cracking toll on mainly older homes with cracks appearing in brickwork and plaster walls as moisture levels in soils dried up dramatically."