DevCore’s Rowan Village has cleared rezoning on Wagga Wagga’s southern fringe, putting about 2,200 homes into the Riverina pipeline. The road and sewer are going in now. The first house builds are not expected until 2028.
Wagga Wagga has rezoned land for what its developer calls the largest housing release the Riverina has ever seen. DevCore Property Group’s Rowan Village, on farmland between Holbrook, Lloyd and Rowan Roads in the city’s south, is planned for about 2,200 homes by 2037.
For builders, the approval is only the first date on the calendar. The one that matters more is 2028, when DevCore expects houses to start going up.
What has been approved at Rowan Village?
DevCore announced on 19 October that Wagga Wagga City Council and the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure had granted rezoning approval for the project, which the developer values at $2.5 billion across a site of more than 220 hectares.
Council’s own records show how it got there. At its 22 June 2026 meeting, Council endorsed finalising the planning proposal for Zone 1 of the Southern Growth Area, a new community of roughly 2,900 dwellings, and adopted a matching local infrastructure contributions plan. On 21 September it adopted a development control plan amendment for the Rowan Urban Release Area.
Zone 1 covers two estates. An urban design report prepared by Urbis for DevCore and Sunnyside Ventures in May 2026 allocates 2,200 lots to Rowan Village and about 700 to the neighbouring Sunnyside estate.
With the rezoning, development control plan and contributions plan in place, DevCore says it will lodge a development application for Precinct 1, covering about 220 lots, this month.
What is an urban release area?
Under the Wagga Wagga Local Environmental Plan, Council cannot grant development consent on land within an urban release area until a development control plan has been prepared for that land. Council adopted the plan for the Rowan Urban Release Area on 21 September 2026, which clears that step for Rowan Village applications.
When will construction start at Rowan Village?
Not straight away. Subject to the Precinct 1 application being approved, DevCore expects civil construction on Stage One to begin in mid 2027, with homes starting to be built in 2028.
The same announcement also points to a first release of lots and homes in early 2027. Read together, the dates suggest sales could open months before any slab is poured.
Spread across 2028 to 2037, 2,200 homes works out at an average of around 220 a year. Estates rarely sell at an even pace, but the figure gives a sense of how much steady work one project could put through a regional city for a decade.
For builders, the approval is only the first date on the calendar.
What kind of housing is planned?
The masterplan is split into neighbourhood, village and seniors living precincts. DevCore says neighbourhood lots will range from 400 to 900 square metres, with a rural lifestyle precinct of lots around 2,000 square metres.
The village precinct, set around a planned village centre, is earmarked for townhouses, terraces and apartments. Seniors living communities will sit close to services inside the estate.
The Urbis report gives the rough split at Rowan Village: about 1,200 neighbourhood lots, 945 village lots including seniors living, and 55 large lots. That puts more than 40 per cent of the estate in denser product, which is a different job from a single storey project home on a standard block.
The plan also includes a village centre with a proposed supermarket, medical centre, childcare, café and tavern, along with parks, sports fields and a 3.45 hectare site reserved for a future primary school. A creek corridor through the middle of the site is to be revegetated in partnership with Council.
Is the infrastructure keeping pace with the rezoning?
This is where Rowan Village looks different from plenty of greenfield releases that stall while they wait on roads and pipes.
Council’s Plumpton Road project is widening the road to four lanes between Lake Albert Road and Lloyd Road, and upgrading it south to Rowan Road. The job includes intersection upgrades, a new trunk sewer, potable water mains, stormwater works and a three metre shared path.
Huon Contractors won the design and construct contract in October 2025. Early works and sewer and water installation began in April 2026, major civil works started in August, and Council expects them to run until mid or late 2027.
The work is funded through the NSW Government’s Accelerated Infrastructure Fund. When the state announced the Wagga funding in May 2024, it said the Plumpton Road upgrades and northern sewer works together would support 14,500 new homes.
If those dates hold, the road and trunk services should be wrapping up around the time Stage One civil works begin.
Why does Wagga need 2,200 new homes?
Council’s draft Local Housing Strategy, exhibited in mid 2025, estimates the city needs about 5,000 additional dwellings between 2026 and 2041. Rowan Village alone would cover about 44 per cent of that.
The rental market is tight. PRD’s first half 2026 market update put the rental vacancy rate across the local government area at 0.6 per cent in March 2026, with a median house price of $705,000 in the March quarter, up 11.9 per cent on a year earlier. DevCore says Wagga’s home price growth is now the highest in NSW.
The developer points to a jobs base spanning health, education, defence, agriculture and the Bomen Special Activation Precinct as the draw for young families, key workers and downsizers.
Rowan Village is not the only housing project in the city. The Tolland renewal led by Homes NSW is set to deliver nearly 500 homes, 40 per cent of them social and affordable, in stages over about ten years. Independent Member for Wagga Joe McGirr said the private investment in Rowan Village would complement that boost, while local business group Committee 4 Wagga described housing as the city’s biggest challenge.
What does Rowan Village mean for builders in the Riverina?
A project of this size changes the work available in a regional city. A decade of house and land sales, a large share of townhouses and terraces, and seniors living product all call on different builders, trades and suppliers.
It also lands on top of other work. Plumpton Road’s civil program, the Tolland renewal and growth in the north of the city will draw on the same local pool of labour and subcontractors through 2027 and 2028.
Rowan Village is one more sign that regional housing supply is being shaped by infrastructure first and approvals second. DevCore says the Wagga estate adds to a pipeline of nine masterplanned communities across regional NSW and Queensland, with more than 5,000 homes planned over the next decade.
The biggest open question is timing. The rezoning has landed, but a development application, civil works and lot titles all sit between now and the first frames going up. On DevCore’s own dates, that point is 2028 at the earliest.
The Good Builder Take
Rezonings make headlines, but builders get paid on titled lots. What stands out at Rowan Village is that the road, sewer and water are being built ahead of the houses rather than after them. That is the part of the story worth tracking. If Plumpton Road finishes on schedule and the Precinct 1 application moves through Council without delay, Wagga’s builders have a long, visible pipeline from 2028. If either slips, the 2,200 homes slip with it.
Frequently asked questions
Rowan Village sits in Wagga Wagga’s Southern Growth Area, on land between Holbrook, Lloyd and Rowan Roads. It forms part of Southern Growth Area Zone 1, alongside the neighbouring Sunnyside estate.
DevCore Property Group says Rowan Village will deliver about 2,200 homes by 2037. The wider Zone 1 rezoning, which also covers Sunnyside, allows for roughly 2,900 dwellings, according to Wagga Wagga City Council.
DevCore says it is lodging a development application for Precinct 1, about 220 lots, in October 2026. Subject to approval, it expects Stage One civil construction to start in mid 2027 and homes to start being built in 2028.
DevCore says neighbourhood lots will range from 400 to 900 square metres, with a rural lifestyle precinct of lots around 2,000 square metres. A village precinct will carry townhouses, terraces and apartments, and there will be seniors living communities.
Wagga Wagga City Council’s draft Local Housing Strategy estimates the city needs about 5,000 additional dwellings between 2026 and 2041.
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Last updated 19 October 2026. Market figures are from PRD’s first half 2026 update; timelines are DevCore’s and Council’s as published.
General information only. This article is general information and does not take into account your particular circumstances. It is not legal, financial or planning advice. Project details, timeframes and approvals may change. Check with Wagga Wagga City Council, the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure or a qualified professional before making decisions.
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