Dwellings Density Explained Place Forecast Feature

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Dwellings density is the number of dwellings per hectare of land. Place Forecast computes it as the dwelling count divided by the land area in hectares. The unit is dw/ha — the unit used by the Australian planning profession (WA Residential Design Codes, the NSW Apartment Design Guide, and Plan Melbourne), so the magnitudes will feel familiar to planners.

Note that zoning controls are usually expressed at net density (lot scale, excluding roads and reserves), whereas this page is gross density across the whole area boundary. The two are not directly comparable.

Estimated figures come from the census dwelling count. Future dwellings density is built up from building completions, dwelling assumption adjustments, and housing assumption adjustments.

A few things matter when you read dwellings density:

• Density is not the same as crowding. Crowding is about how many people share a home. Density is about how dwellings spread over land. A place can be dense but not crowded.
• Spatial dwellings density is not the same as structural density. Structural density is the share of medium or high density dwellings — that is on the Dwelling Structure Rate page. This page is about how many dwellings sit on the land, regardless of structure type.
• The land area is gross. It includes parks, water, and unused land. Places with lots of unused land look less dense than they feel.
• The land area stays fixed within an ASGS edition. Only the dwelling count changes over time.

The comparison page opens on a Dorling cartogram by default. A plain map can mislead for density. Large areas draw the eye. A cartogram sizes each area by value, not by land area, so the eye reads the rate, not the shape. You can switch to a Demers cartogram or a plain choropleth map from the toolbox.