Melbourne's next suburbs: room for about 334,000 lots on the city's edge
The Victorian Government's Urban Development Program maps every piece of growth land on Melbourne's fringe. It has room for about 334,000 lots in seven councils, nearly 40% of it on land that still needs a precinct structure plan. Melton has the most, about 82,000 lots, and the largest unplanned precincts are around Beveridge, Clyde South and Melton East.
Melbourne's new suburbs are built on greenfield land at the edge of the city, inside the Urban Growth Boundary. The Victorian Government's Urban Development Program maps that land and estimates how many lots each piece can hold. Its 2025 data has room for about 334,000 lots across seven councils.
The land is at three stages:
| Stage | Lots |
|---|---|
| Lots in approved subdivisions, not yet titled | 39,812 |
| Land zoned for housing, not yet subdivided | 165,671 |
| Land set aside, still needing a precinct structure plan | 128,536 |
| Total | 334,019 |
A precinct structure plan sets where streets, schools, parks and shops go; the land is rezoned when the plan is approved. So nearly 40% of the lots are on land where that has not happened yet.
By council
| Council | Lots | Of which still needing a plan |
|---|---|---|
| Melton | 81,933 | 37,458 |
| Wyndham | 59,415 | 18,756 |
| Mitchell | 54,239 | 39,984 |
| Hume | 45,348 | 12,108 |
| Casey | 42,587 | 18,281 |
| Whittlesea | 33,368 | 333 |
| Cardinia | 17,129 | 1,616 |
Melton, in the west, has the most growth land. Mitchell, which takes in Beveridge and Wallan on the Hume Freeway north of Melbourne, has the most still waiting for a plan: about 40,000 of its 54,000 lots. Whittlesea's growth land is almost all planned already.
The largest precincts still to be planned
| Precinct | Council | Lots |
|---|---|---|
| Beveridge North West | Mitchell | 16,161 |
| Clyde South | Casey | 13,079 |
| Melton East | Melton | 12,866 |
| Oakbank | Wyndham | 11,607 |
| Beveridge South West | Mitchell | 10,068 |
| Rockbank South | Melton | 8,525 |
| Sunbury North | Hume | 7,448 |
| Wallan South | Mitchell | 7,000 |
The largest precincts that are already zoned, with land waiting to be subdivided, are Toolern near Melton (12,780 lots), Sunbury South (8,478) and Wollert (7,736).
How we counted
- From the Urban Development Program's metropolitan greenfield land data for 2025 (Department of Transport and Planning, CC BY 4.0). Lots are the program's estimates of what each piece of land can hold; a lot usually becomes one home, though some become several.
- Lots already titled are left out: they are built or being built.
- Regional Victoria's growth land and Melbourne's apartment and townhouse projects are covered in separate articles.
Suburb pages in Melbourne's growth areas now show the planned homes in and around each suburb, by stage.