A property has development potential when the site and the planning controls might allow a change: a second dwelling, a different layout, or a new title. “Might” is the important word. Potential is not an approval, and an approval is not a completed project.

Separate the idea from the controls

Start with the current title, the zoning and any overlay that limits height, density, vegetation, heritage, flood or bushfire. Then look at the land itself: area, frontage, slope, access, existing buildings and where services are connected. A wide block is not, by itself, a subdivision. A second street frontage is not, by itself, a dual occupancy.

Questions worth asking early

• What does the planning scheme allow on this lot, without assuming a variation will be granted?
• What would have to be demolished, retained or upgraded?
• Can vehicles, drainage and services be resolved without consuming the design?
• Who has to consent: an owner, a neighbour, a body corporate, an authority?

Feasibility is more than a sketch

A concept only becomes useful when someone has tested cost, time and the chance that an application is refused or heavily conditioned. Build cost, contributions, holding costs and the time a council takes are part of the sum. So is the use you actually want. A project that only works at an optimistic sale price is not yet a strategy.

The practical step is to have the controls checked for that address before you pay a premium for “upside”.

This is general information, not personal financial, legal or planning advice. Planning rules differ by state and by council, and they should be checked for the specific property.