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Cities

Australia’s eight capital cities are all subject to highly restrictive planning controls.

Ordered by overall restrictiveness—share of inner-city residential land currently locked away from townhouses + mid-rise.

TAS

Hobart

≈97%

#1 of 8 · most to least restrictive

SA

Adelaide

≈92%

#2 of 8 · most to least restrictive

NT

Darwin

≈88%

#3 of 8 · most to least restrictive

WA

Perth

≈87%

#4 of 8 · most to least restrictive

QLD

Brisbane

≈86%

#5 of 8 · most to least restrictive

NSW

Sydney

≈81%

#6 of 8 · most to least restrictive

ACT

Canberra

≈74%

#7 of 8 · most to least restrictive

VIC

Melbourne

≈45%

#8 of 8 · most to least restrictive

Headline leaders

The most restricted capital city, per metric.

Hobart

≈97%

Overall (20km)

Hobart

≈97%

2-storey cap (20km)

Darwin

≈73%

Detached-only (20km)

Canberra

≈74%

Low-density (20km)

Melbourne

≈51%

Heritage (5km)

Ring-by-ring overlay

Compare any metric across distance from the CBD.

Pick a metric, pick your capitals, pick a radius. Lines plot each 1km ring’s value out to the selected radius.

Per-ring share of highly restricted land, excluding rural-residential parcels (NSW RU5, VIC LDRZ, QLD RR, etc.).

Cities

Distance range

Highly restricted

1km5km10km15km20kmHobartTAS≈97%AdelaideSA≈92%DarwinNT≈88%PerthWA≈87%BrisbaneQLD≈86%SydneyNSW≈81%CanberraACT≈74%MelbourneVIC≈45%1km5km10km15km20km

Bars = per-1km-ring share; solid line = cumulative share through each ring. The value on the right is the cumulative reading at 20km—the headline number cited elsewhere on the site.

Source: Per-ring values for each capital, plotted from 1km out to the selected radius. Methodology →

Near rapid transit

Zoning near rapid transit is barely more permissive.

Each bar is the share of residential land within 800m of a high-frequency train, tram, ferry, or bus stop that’s highly restricted. The line marks the city’s overall restricted share, showing that the land best served by transit is locked into low-rise almost as much as anywhere else.

Restricted near rapid transit Whole-city restricted share
  • Adelaide ≈82%
  • Perth ≈79%
  • Brisbane ≈78%
  • Sydney ≈76%
  • Canberra ≈56%
  • Melbourne ≈40%
  • Darwin —
  • Hobart —

Source: Rapid-transit stops = train + tram + ferry stations plus any bus stop with mean headway ≤15 min across the weekday 7am-7pm GTFS window. Buffered 800m, intersected with the highly-restricted residential layer. The line is each city's overall restricted share over the same extent. Methodology →