The headline number is the smallest freehold lot Brisbane has ever allowed. The operative number sits sixty square metres above it, and it moves a design decision from the builder to the subdivider.

Brisbane City Council has signed off on the biggest change to its suburban residential rules in years. The minimum lot size in parts of the low medium density residential zone drops from 260 square metres to 120. Building heights lift to three storeys across the zone and four storeys on larger sites close to transport and shops.

That is the version of the story that has run everywhere this week. It is accurate, and for most builders it is not the useful part.

The useful part is 180. Under the package Council consulted on, any lot created below 180 square metres carries a Development Footprint Plan, and that document decides what can be built on the block before anyone has spoken to a builder.

What a Development Footprint Plan actually does

A Development Footprint Plan is prepared and approved at the subdivision stage, not at the house stage. Council’s explanatory guide sets out what it has to show.

• The building footprint
• Bin storage location
• Driveway location and width
• Street trees
• Percentage of impervious area
• Any shared or built to boundary walls

Once that plan is approved, a house that complies with it does not need to go back through a separate development application. Council’s consultation report adds an important qualifier. The provisions were drafted so a future small lot home can align with either a Development Footprint Plan approved at subdivision or the requirements of the Dwelling house (small lot) code. There are two compliance paths, not one.

The person creating the lot is now setting the building envelope for whoever builds on it. That is a different commercial relationship to the one most residential builders are used to.

For a builder, the practical shift is where the design constraint gets locked in. On a 300 square metre block under the old rules, the builder works with the client, tests the siting, and takes the design risk through the house application. On a 140 square metre lot with an approved footprint plan attached, the footprint, the driveway width, the garage position and the boundary walls are already settled. The margin sits in what is built inside that envelope, and in whether the envelope was drawn by someone who understands construction sequencing.

Council has also written new provisions into the Dwelling house (small lot) code covering private open space, impervious area, single width car parking spaces and driveway and crossover widths. Site cover on lots under 180 square metres is capped at 55 per cent. Maximum impervious area across the site is 70 per cent. Sites in the zone carry a minimum of 10 per cent of site area for deep planting.

Small lots are not where most people assume

The second thing worth getting straight is geography. The 120 square metre minimum applies outside Key Locations, not inside them.

A Key Location is land in the Principal centre, Major centre, District centre or Mixed use zone, or land within 400 metres walking distance of a major public transport interchange, a centre in one of those zones, or a public transport stop running at least every 20 minutes on weekdays and every 30 minutes on weekends between 7am and 7pm.

Inside those areas the zone is pointed at apartments. Three storey multiple dwellings on lots over 600 square metres, and four storey multiple dwellings up to 14 metres on lots over 800 square metres. Council’s consultation report states plainly that small lots are not supported within Key Locations, on the basis that further fragmentation of well located land would work against the aim of the zone.

Outside Key Locations the picture flips. Small lot houses on lots over 120 square metres, duplexes on lots over 400 square metres, and multiple dwellings up to three storeys on lots over 600 square metres. Building height for the small lot product runs to three storeys and 11.5 metres.

The existing minimum rear lot size of 350 square metres is unchanged outside Key Locations.

There are two clocks running

The More Homes, Sooner review was split into two amendment packages, and they have different start dates.

The car parking package is already law. It took effect in City Plan version v36.00/2026 on 12 June 2026 and cut parking rates for multiple dwellings, including two bedroom apartments dropping from two spaces to 1.5 citywide and 1.2 inside Key Locations.

The design package carrying the lot sizes, heights and assessment changes has not commenced. Trade reporting this week put the start date at 18 September 2026, citing a Council statement. Council’s own amendment page has not been updated and still describes adoption as anticipated mid to late 2026. The current published version of City Plan is v36.00/2026, effective 12 June 2026, and it does not include the design amendment.

Until the amendment appears in the adopted amendment register with its own effective date, the existing provisions are the ones being applied. Anything lodged before commencement is assessed against the rules in force on the day it is lodged, which makes the register worth watching rather than the coverage.

There is also one change that reaches outside the LMR zone entirely. In the low density residential zone, properties within 300 metres walking distance of a shopping centre will be able to subdivide to 300 square metre lots. The existing trigger is 200 metres. That extra 100 metres captures a meaningful number of blocks that previously had no subdivision potential at all.

Why the zone was reviewed

The case Council has made is a supply case, and the numbers behind it are specific.

New home construction in the LMR zone fell from around 1,100 homes a year to 445 in 2023. The zone covers about 14 per cent of Brisbane’s residential land, sitting in parts of suburbs including Morningside, St Lucia, Moorooka and Zillmere, generally close to transport and centres. It is the land already designated for the housing type the city says it needs, and it stopped producing.

The demand side is equally blunt. Council is planning for around 210,800 additional dwellings by 2046 under ShapingSEQ benchmarks. More than half of Brisbane households are single people or couples without children. Seventy one per cent of Brisbane homes have three or more bedrooms. Council has estimated the changes could support up to 6,000 additional homes by 2032, which is an estimate rather than a commitment.

The changes also sit inside a wider Queensland reset. The review of the South East Queensland regional plan is running at the same time, and local planning schemes have to align with whatever comes out of it.

The consultation was loud, and the package came through largely intact

Council received 517 submissions during the statutory consultation period between 20 February and 20 March 2026. Of those, 287 opposed the amendment, 140 supported it, 74 supported it in part, and 16 neither supported nor opposed but provided comments.

Most of the responses in the consultation report record no change to the amendment. Three changes were made.

• The description of walking distance and Key Locations was clarified so it is easier to work out how the boundary is measured.
• Front and rear setbacks in the Dual occupancy code were changed to align more closely with the standards for existing dual occupancies and for dwelling houses on lots under 180 square metres. The requirement for a mid building break was removed from that code.
• Parking for a dual occupancy was clarified to be provided in tandem for each dwelling.

Changes were also made to the Dwelling house (small lot) code, described in the report only as being in response to other matters. The itemised detail will not be visible until the adopted schedule of amendments is published.

Council’s report also notes the amendment may be subject to further changes required by the Queensland Government during the Minister’s consideration period.

Brisbane is not moving alone

Every mainland state has been working the same problem from a different angle. New South Wales has opened low density zones near transport to terraces and townhouses. Victoria has moved on activity centres and backyard subdivision. Western Australia has proposed abolishing its average lot size rule outright.

South Australia has taken the most tangible path, building an actual demonstration project rather than publishing a policy document, which is worth reading alongside the missing middle work in other states because it shows what the product looks like when it gets built.

What separates Brisbane’s version is the assessment mechanism. Most of the other reforms lower a threshold and leave the design risk where it was. Brisbane has moved a chunk of that risk forward into the subdivision stage and attached it to the title.

The Good Builder Take

The 120 square metre number will get the coverage. It is not the number that changes anyone’s week.

The change with real operational consequence is that on lots under 180 square metres, the building envelope is being resolved at subdivision. That means the developer or landowner creating the lots is making decisions about garage width, boundary walls, driveway position and impervious area that a builder will have to live with later. Where those plans are drawn well, the small lot product becomes genuinely repeatable and the assessment path is faster than anything currently available in the zone. Where they are drawn badly, the builder inherits a footprint that does not price.

The builders who do well out of this are likely to be the ones who get involved before the lots are created rather than after. That is a different position in the chain than most residential builders currently occupy, and the window to move into it is open while the amendment is still sitting between adoption and commencement.

What happens next

The commencement date is the fact to watch, and the adopted amendment register is where it becomes verifiable rather than reported. Brisbane bundles amendments into a single City Plan version with one shared effective date, which is how the Wynnum Centre precinct plan and the car parking amendment both landed on 12 June. A new version carrying this amendment, and its gazetted notice of adoption, is what confirms the start date. Broader movement across the sector is tracked in our Australian construction industry trends coverage.

Council has also opened consultation on the Upper Mt Gravatt Centre draft Suburban Renewal Precinct Plan, with further precinct plans in preparation for Alderley, Cannon Hill, Chermside and Sandgate. Those plans override citywide provisions where they apply, which means a site can sit inside the LMR zone and still be governed by a different set of numbers.

Checking which of the two applies to a specific block is the first thing worth doing, and City Plan online is where that check gets made.

Frequently asked questions

This article is general information for the construction industry and does not constitute planning, legal or financial advice. Planning scheme provisions change through the adoption process and can be varied by neighbourhood plans, precinct plans and overlays. Builders, developers and landowners should confirm the current provisions applying to a specific site using City Plan online, or with Brisbane City Council or a qualified planning professional, before making project decisions.

Sources: Brisbane City Council, Citywide amendment More Homes, Sooner Low-medium density residential design. Brisbane City Council, More Homes, Sooner explanatory guide, February 2026. Brisbane City Council, Consultation Report, More Homes, Sooner Low-medium density residential design, June 2026. Brisbane City Council, Housing supply. Brisbane City Council, Find an adopted amendment

Author: TGB Editorial