{"id":773968,"date":"2026-07-02T09:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T09:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/773968\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T09:27:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T09:27:13","slug":"perth-property-subdivision-how-proposed-changes-to-r-codes-could-affect-your-block","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/773968\/","title":{"rendered":"Perth property subdivision: How proposed changes to R-codes could affect your block"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Holly<\/p>\n

Updated July 2, 2026 \u2014 2:30pm,first published 8:24am<\/p>\n

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Proposed major reforms to Western Australia\u2019s residential design codes would mean an additional 50,000 homeowners could subdivide their land and sell their backyards, or demolish and redevelop, helping to boost block values and increase density.<\/p>\n

Land blocks of 700 square metres zoned R20 and below would be able to be subdivided, a massive decrease from the 900 square metres currently required.<\/p>\n

\"WAWA Housing Minister John Carey.<\/p>\n

The R20 density code generally applies to the most common suburban residential properties across the Perth metropolitan region, but the local government areas expected to be the most impacted by the changes include Joondalup, Stirling, Wanneroo, Canning and Cockburn.<\/p>\n

Housing and Planning and Lands Minister John Carey announced the proposed changes at a Planning Institute of Australia WA breakfast at the Anzac Club in the CBD on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

The government is also looking at reducing single-home approvals from 60 to 30 days, reducing duplication to make the R-codes easier to navigate, and cutting red tape so more simple residential projects, such as renovations, patios and carports, no longer need planning approval.<\/p>\n

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The review is being guided by an expert advisory group comprising representatives from the planning, local government, architecture and property development sectors, with further stakeholder engagement to continue.<\/p>\n

Carey, who predicted it would be the most significant change to R-Codes in decades, said the draft changes were anticipated to be released for public consultation later this year, with implementation expected from mid-2027.<\/p>\n

The state government has also released a \u201chealth check\u201d of its plan for the Perth and Peel region hitting 3.5 million people by 2050.<\/p>\n

Perth\u2019s annual urban infill rate has been below the 47 per cent target, the document showed, but the most recent data revealed an increase from 34 per cent in 2023 to 39 per cent in 2024.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe changes we are proposing are among the most significant reforms to the R-codes since they were brought in three decades ago and build on previous changes to the medium density codes and our broader nation-leading planning reforms,\u201d Carey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposed changes enable tens of thousands of existing properties to be subdivided that couldn\u2019t previously \u2013 providing more opportunities for housing in existing suburbs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese changes will make it easier for a range of simple residential projects, like single homes, extensions and patios, to get off the ground by ensuring they aren\u2019t caught up in unnecessary red tape.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis package is also about enabling more medium and high-density housing, including by changing car parking requirements and allowing greater building height in these areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Urban Development Institute of Australia WA has also welcomed the announcement, labelling it an important step toward increasing housing supply, housing choice and affordability across Perth.<\/p>\n

Chief-executive Tanya Steinbeck said there was a particular need to reduce unnecessary complexity, improve certainty and unlock additional housing opportunities within established suburbs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when WA continues to face significant housing pressures, reforms that help deliver more homes, faster, should be welcomed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Steinbeck said the government\u2019s \u201chealth check\u201d of its 3.5 million plan showed Perth remained below its long-term infill housing target, but that the proposed changes would hopefully get plans back on track.<\/p>\n

\u201cReforms that support apartments, ancillary dwellings, townhouses and other medium-density housing forms will also be increasingly important as Perth continues to grow,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Property Council WA executive director Nicola Brischetto said the key to improving housing affordability and choice was to make it easier to \u201cdeliver apartments in the areas where people want to live\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile government can\u2019t control every cost, it can remove barriers that make housing more expensive to build. This announcement does that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerth is building fewer apartments and units today than it was in the 1980s. That\u2019s simply not sustainable for a city suffering through a housing crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

But while industry has so far been supportive of the proposed changes, the WA Greens have hit out at the reforms, labelling them as \u201cuninspiring and lazy\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Greens\u2019 planning spokesperson Brad Pettitt said that \u201cthis kind of infill results in the worst kind of density\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cDensity that is too low to create walkable transit-oriented neighbourhoods but takes up too much space to preserve tree canopy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you end up with is suburbs that were once leafy becoming treeless, hot and car-dependent, making them even less livable than they are today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shadow Minister for Planning and Lands Neil Thomson has said he broadly supported the proposed reforms, but questioned why it took the government so long.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government announced this tranche of reforms more than a year ago, yet we\u2019re now being told the detail won\u2019t be released until later this year and implementation isn\u2019t expected until the middle of 2027,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWestern Australians cannot afford another year of delay while the housing crisis continues.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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\"HollyHolly Thompson<\/a> is a journalist with WAtoday, specialising in education and the environment.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated July 2, 2026 \u2014 2:30pm,first published 8:24am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-773968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}