Housing Choice and Transport Zone (HCTZ) Explained — Victoria

The Housing Choice and Transport Zone is one of the newest zones in Victorian planning — created in 2025 to put more homes in the places best served by transport and services. If your property sits in or near an activity centre, a major train station or a tram corridor, this is the zone reshaping what can be built there.

• ✓What the Housing Choice and Transport Zone is and why it was introduced
• ✓When it started and which amendment created it
• ✓Where it applies, and how the rollout works
• ✓What kinds of controls it brings
• ✓How to confirm whether it applies to your own property

The short answer

The Housing Choice and Transport Zone (HCTZ) is a new Victorian zone, added to the Victoria Planning Provisions by Amendment VC257 (gazetted 25 February 2025), to deliver more housing at higher densities around activity centres, train stations and tram corridors. It is being applied progressively, so it only governs land where the government has mapped it in.

Because the zone is new and is being rolled out centre by centre, its detailed controls are best confirmed against your own planning scheme. The relationship between the reform program and your land is shown below.

Figure 1: The HCTZ flows from the state's activity centres program down to individual mapped sites — it only applies where it has been mapped in.

What the Housing Choice and Transport Zone is for

The zone's purpose is to provide housing at increased densities in locations with good access to transport, employment and services — particularly in and around activity centres — while encouraging a transition to lower-scale residential areas at the edges, and supporting housing diversity and affordable housing. In plain terms, it concentrates new homes where people can most easily reach shops, jobs and public transport.

It is part of the Victorian Government's broader activity centres program (also referred to as the Train and Tram Zone Activity Centres Program), which plans for housing growth across a large number of activity centres in metropolitan Melbourne. The program began with a set of pilot centres and is expanding to many more.

When it started

The zone was introduced to the Victoria Planning Provisions by Amendment VC257, gazetted on 25 February 2025. Industry commentary indicates the new provisions took practical effect from late March 2025. Some sources record the zone at Clause 32.10 of the planning provisions; because numbering and provisions for a new zone can be refined as the rollout continues, you should confirm the current clause and wording in your own planning scheme rather than relying on that number alone.

This is genuinely new ground. If you are comparing it with the established higher-density residential zones, read the Residential Growth Zone in Victoria and the Mixed Use Zone alongside this guide.

Where it applies

The HCTZ does not apply everywhere at once. It is mapped onto land as part of the activity centres program, centre by centre.

Figure 2: The HCTZ applies only to land that has been mapped into the program — most of Victoria keeps its existing zones.

In practice this means:

• ✓It is being applied to the catchments of selected activity centres, near train stations and tram corridors
• ✓It started with a group of pilot activity centres, with many more centres following
• ✓Most residential land across Victoria is NOT in the HCTZ and keeps its existing zone
• ✓The only reliable test is to look up your specific address — do not assume from your suburb

Because the program is expanding over time, a property that is not in the HCTZ today may be proposed for it in a future amendment. Always check the current mapping.

What controls it brings

The zone is designed to enable taller, denser housing close to transport, with built form stepping down toward established lower-scale neighbourhoods at the edges. The detailed numbers — building heights, setbacks and the like — are set for each centre rather than as a single statewide figure, and are commonly delivered together with built-form controls that accompany the zone.

Because the zone is new and location-specific, we are deliberately not quoting a single height limit or density number here. What is consistent is the intent: more homes, taller forms near the centre core, a transition down at the edges, and an emphasis on diversity and affordability. For the precise controls, the planning scheme for your property is the only reliable source.

How the HCTZ fits with other zones

It helps to see where this zone sits among Victoria's housing zones.

Figure 3: Where the Housing Choice and Transport Zone sits among Victoria's housing zones.

If your land is not in the HCTZ, your higher-density options are more likely the Residential Growth Zone or Mixed Use Zone. If you are simply trying to work out whether any permit is needed at all, start with do I need a planning permit in Victoria.

How to check your own property

Because this zone is new and mapped selectively, checking is essential:

1. ✓Look up your address on VicPlan or generate a planning property report — it will show whether your land is in the HCTZ and list any overlays.
2. ✓Note the exact zone and any built-form controls or overlays mapped onto your site.
3. ✓Read the current planning scheme provisions for that zone — and treat any third-party summary as a starting point only.

• ✓Confirm the zone on VicPlan
• ✓Confirm the current clause and controls in the planning scheme
• ✓Confirm any overlays and built-form controls
• ✓Check whether a future amendment is proposed for your area

If your project needs a permit — what's next

Development in and around activity centres is closely scrutinised, so a well-prepared application matters. A proposal lodged with a town planning report that addresses the zone's purpose, your site's specific controls and any overlays is far less likely to be returned or hit a Request for Further Information.

Hiring a town planner can take weeks. instantplanning builds a council-ready report from current Victorian planning scheme data in minutes — you review it before you lodge. When you are ready, generate your report.