Thanks for the clarifications, folks. In my innocence, I thought the compo scheme covered all the losses.
On the broader issue, I don't think it makes sense to chose property over equity on this one single experience. For every one of the small number of stock investors who lost out in this one particular case, there are thousands of regular investors who have one or lost, based on their own investment strategy, and nothing else.
And these boards are full of stories of those who have invested in residential property, and incurred significant losses, geared up by borrowed money in many cases.
It's your own choice of course, but it's a bit like saying that I'll never drive again because I had one fender bender accident.