What Changed in 2025

Before February 2025, most R2 Low Density Residential blocks in Western Sydney were limited to a duplex — two dwellings maximum. That was it. The only way to get more yield was to find an R3 zoned site, which came at a significant land price premium.

Then Stage 2 of the NSW Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy changed everything.

If your site is within 800 metres of a nominated train station — Blacktown, Seven Hills, Doonside, Auburn, Granville, Merrylands and others — you can now build a manor house. That means three or four dwellings on the same standard residential block that previously could only hold two.

The land price has not fully caught up with this reality yet. Which means right now, in 2026, there is a genuine arbitrage window for developers who move quickly.