What can I build in R3 Medium Density Residential?
R3 Medium Density Residential is the zone for housing between a house and an apartment tower: townhouses, terraces, manor houses and, since February 2025, apartment buildings of up to four or six storeys close to listed stations and town centres.
It surprises some owners that a plain house isn't on the state's compulsory list for R3, and that a granny flat depends on whether the council allows houses. This page explains what the state guarantees, what the council decides, and how to check your block. Type your address below to see its zone and planning maps.
NSW addresses only. Free, and no sign up.
What can I build in R3 Medium Density Residential?
Medium density housing, with development consent. The Standard Instrument requires every R3 zone to permit attached dwellings, multi dwelling housing (townhouses), boarding houses, group homes and seniors housing, along with child care centres, community facilities, neighbourhood shops, places of public worship and respite day care centres. The Codes SEPP adds manor houses in every R3 zone, because townhouses are permitted there.
The zone's objectives are to provide housing within a medium density residential environment, to provide a variety of housing types, and to allow other uses that meet residents' day to day needs. Everything else, including dwelling houses, dual occupancies and apartments outside low and mid rise housing areas, is the council's choice. To see your council's full list, open its Local Environmental Plan on NSW legislation, go to Part 2 and find the zone in the Land Use Table. The Planning Portal Spatial Viewer shows the zone and the other maps for a single lot.
Can I build a house in R3?
In most councils yes, but dwelling houses are not on the state's compulsory list for R3, so your council's land use table decides. Most councils include them, because R3 streets are often lined with existing houses. If your council leaves them out, an existing house can generally keep being used under existing use rights, but a new house or a large addition may need a closer look with the council or a town planner.
Where houses are permitted, the Housing Code can approve a new one or two storey house as complying development on a lot of at least 200 m² with a 6 metre frontage at the building line.
Can I build a duplex, townhouses or terraces in R3?
Townhouses and terraces, yes, with consent: multi dwelling housing and attached dwellings are compulsory in every R3 zone. A dual occupancy is not on the compulsory list, so check your council's table; most councils include it.
In a low and mid rise housing area (within 800 metres walk of a listed station or town centre), the Housing SEPP sets standards the council can't ask more than. For townhouses that is a 600 m² lot and a 12 metre frontage, and for terraces 500 m² and 18 metres, both at a floor space ratio of 0.7:1 and a height of 9.5 metres. A new terrace row approved on or after 28 February 2025 in those areas can be Torrens title subdivided into lots of at least 165 m² and 6 metres wide.
Can apartments be built in R3?
Yes in low and mid rise housing areas, and elsewhere only if your council's LEP allows them. Since 28 February 2025 the Housing SEPP has permitted residential flat buildings in R3 within 800 metres walk of a listed station or mapped town centre in Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, the Lower Hunter and Newcastle, and the Illawarra and Shoalhaven.
Within 400 metres, the inner area, an apartment building can't be refused for a height of up to 22 metres and six storeys or a floor space ratio of up to 2.2:1. Between 400 and 800 metres, the outer area, the figures are 17.5 metres and four storeys, at 1.5:1. The LEP's own minimum lot size and frontage for apartments don't apply to a building that meets those standards. The NSW Housing Pattern Book includes ready apartment designs for these areas: see our Pattern Book pages.
Can I build a granny flat in R3?
Only if your council permits dwelling houses in R3. The Housing SEPP permits a granny flat with consent in R3 wherever a house is permissible under another plan, so the answer follows the council's land use table. Where it applies, the granny flat can be up to 60 m² (or more if the LEP allows), can't be sold separately, and can be complying development on a lot of at least 450 m² with at least a 12 metre frontage at the building line.
Can I subdivide an R3 block?
Only if each new lot meets the minimum lot size your LEP maps, unless a state rule overrides it. Some councils set no minimum lot size in R3 for particular housing types, or set a minimum site area for townhouses instead. The low and mid rise reforms let a new dual occupancy be split into two lots of at least 225 m², and a terrace row into lots of at least 165 m², in low and mid rise housing areas. Minimum lot size explains how to read the map.
What is the height limit in R3?
It is whatever your council's Height of Buildings Map shows for the block, and R3 heights vary widely from council to council. In a low and mid rise housing area the Housing SEPP sets higher figures for apartment buildings (22 metres within 400 metres of the station or centre, 17.5 metres out to 800 metres) and 9.5 metres for townhouses and terraces. A house approved under the Housing Code is capped at 8.5 metres. Building height explains how height is measured.
Can I run a business from home in R3?
Usually, but in R3 your council decides whether a home occupation is allowed, because the Standard Instrument doesn't make it compulsory here as it does in R2. Separately, the state's exempt development code lets a home business, home industry or home occupation go ahead with no approval if it doesn't make food or involve skin penetration, doesn't change the building's use, and stays within the floor area your LEP sets for a home business. Check your council's table before you rely on either.
Can I use complying development in R3?
Often, yes. The Housing Code covers houses in R3 where houses are permitted, and the Low Rise Housing Diversity Code covers one or two storey dual occupancies, manor houses and terraces in R3. Townhouses of three storeys or more, and apartment buildings, need a development application. See complying development for the land that rules it out.
What else do people ask?
What is the difference between R2 and R3?
R2 is for low density housing, mainly houses, with duplexes and, near stations and town centres, some townhouses and small apartment buildings. R3 is for medium density housing: townhouses and terraces are compulsory in every R3 zone, and near listed stations and town centres apartments of four to six storeys are permitted.
What is a manor house?
A manor house is a building of three or four homes, no more than two storeys, where at least one home sits partly above another. The Codes SEPP permits manor houses in R1, R2, R3 and RU5 wherever townhouses or apartments are permitted, which includes every R3 zone.
My house is in R3. Will townhouses be built next door?
They can be, because townhouses are permitted with consent in every R3 zone. A neighbour's development application is usually notified to adjoining owners, and the DCP sets the setbacks, privacy and overshadowing controls it has to meet.
Where does this information come from?
Permitted uses differ by council LEP, so check your council's land use table before you rely on anything here. This page is general information about NSW planning law, not advice about your block. It is not a section 10.7 planning certificate, and it does not replace your council, your certifier, legal advice or your own designer.