How long does rezoning take in NSW?

Rezoning in NSW takes anywhere from about a year to many years. The NSW Government's target for a standard planning proposal is 320 working days, roughly 16 months, and 420 working days for a complex one. The last averages the Department published were much longer: 114 weeks in 2019 and 89 weeks by June 2021. Big greenfield precincts have taken more than seven years from first investigation.

The figures don't agree because they measure different things. Here they are side by side, then what each extra year of waiting does to what you can pay for the land.

What do the published figures say?

You'll also see 320 days quoted on its own. That's the government's target for a standard proposal, not a measured average.

Why are the figures so different?

First, a target isn't an average. The guideline says its benchmarks are the "maximum expected duration" for each stage. The Hills Shire Council said in 2022 that only the most straightforward proposals got close to them.

Second, some figures are in working days and some aren't. The guideline counts working days and leaves out weekends, public holidays and 20 December to 10 January. The 679 days and the week figures are on the calendar. By our rough count, 320 working days is about 16 months.

The clock also starts in different places. The guideline starts counting when you lodge. It doesn't count the months of studies before you lodge, or the scoping stage. UDIA's seven years starts when a precinct was first looked at, so it includes years of planning before any formal proposal. The Hills Shire Council warned that moving work to before lodgement can make the official numbers look faster without making the whole job any quicker.

Then there's what gets counted. A small spot rezoning in town and a new housing estate on farmland are both "planning proposals". The bigger and less expected the change, the longer it tends to run. One council's records aren't the state's either.

And the years differ. The Department's average fell from 114 to 89 weeks in two years as it cleared old proposals. It hasn't published a newer average that we could find.

What does a slow rezoning do to land value?

Time costs money in two ways. You pay to hold the land while you wait. And a dollar you get years from now is worth less than a dollar today, so the further away the rezoning is, the less the land is worth now. This is the discount in a residual land value sum.

Here's what that does on Ridgeback Creek (demo), a made-up 38.8 ha site our report uses as its example. We work out what the land is worth once rezoned, bring it back to today at 9% a year, weight it by a 40% chance of rezoning, and add 60% of its rural value in case the rezoning fails. Everything stays the same except the wait for rezoning.

Two extra years take about $1.5m off what the site supports. Against an asking price of $9m, the site goes from worth buying to not worth buying. At a 9% discount rate, each year of delay takes about 8% off what the rezoned land is worth in today's money.

The sum keeps lot prices and building costs where they are today. In real life both can move while you wait, so treat it as a test of how sensitive your price is to time. How englobo land is valued walks through each line of the sum.

Can you make rezoning faster?

Some of it is in your hands. The LEP Making Guideline puts it plainly: meeting the benchmarks relies on early consultation, confirming strategic merit and sorting out the big issues up front. In practice that means:

• Talk to council early, and use the scoping report and pre-lodgement meeting to find out which studies it wants.
• Pick land that council's housing strategy and the regional plan already point to. A proposal that doesn't fit those plans has the hardest road.
• Get the slow studies started early. Biodiversity surveys depend on the seasons, and our report allows 26 weeks for a Biodiversity Development Assessment Report.
• Ask whether a development application can run alongside the planning proposal. The guideline allows it for well-defined sites, though the development can't be approved until the new zoning is made.

The rest isn't up to you. Council meetings, agency advice, community objections and changes in government policy can all add months. For the steps in order, read the planning proposal process, step by step.

Sources: Local Environmental Plan Making Guideline (NSW DPHI, July 2026); Frequently asked questions on the rezonings discussion paper (NSW Department of Planning and Environment, December 2021); Submission to "A new approach to rezonings" (The Hills Shire Council, 28 February 2022); Submission on "A new approach to rezoning" (UDIA NSW, 28 February 2022); Rezoning (Lake Macquarie City Council, viewed 18 October 2026); How to seek rezoning for development property in NSW (Development Ready, July 2026).