One housing reform. Most owners in Sydney's north haven't heard of it.
In 2024 the NSW Government quietly rewrote the rules for suburban land near its town centres. The Low and Mid Rise Housing reforms unlocked 14,994 lots across Sydney's north from single-dwelling use into something far more valuable — and they did it without a press conference, a council vote, or a letter in the mail to the people affected.
Low and Mid Rise Housing
A state planning policy that overrides council zoning within walking distance of 18 designated town centres and railway stations across Sydney's north. It permits dual occupancies, manor houses, terraces, and small apartment blocks on lots that — the day before — could only carry a single house. It also opens a fast approval route your council cannot override.
Read the full explainer →The Uplift Sale
The reform moved the value of the land. The Uplift Sale is how an eligible owner captures that movement: paid a non-refundable premium up front, a fixed price on a fixed date, no developing, no listing, no commission, no moving out. On most eligible streets it's the only path that pays the homeowner for the uplift instead of the buyer.
How the Uplift Sale works →Why this matters to you
On a standard residential street in Sydney's north, the day before the reform a 600 m² lot could carry one house. The day after, the same lot, if it sits inside one of the 18 walking catchments, could carry four dwellings. The underlying land value moved accordingly.
That isn't hypothetical. Eligible lots around Dee Why, Manly, Forestville and Mona Vale on the Northern Beaches, and around the Turramurra, Lindfield and Gordon station centres and St Ives in Ku-ring-gai, have been changing hands quietly since the reform landed, off-market, and rarely at a price that reflects the uplift. Some real estate agents have started pricing it into asking prices; many still haven't.
See what your lot now permits.