General Residential dominant. Median sale $1.15M over the last 24 months. 91% of decided DAs approved.
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Zoning
Surry Hills is dominated by R1 — General Residential. Land use rules, height, FSR, and permitted developments are set per zone in the Local Environmental Plan and refined by the Development Control Plan.
Limit varies by lot — check your address for the exact figure.
Floor Space Ratio — total floor area as a multiple of lot area.
Location
Surry Hills 2010 covers an undefined area within Council of the City of Sydney.
Drill into any lot in Surry Hills
Open the interactive map — click any address to see its zone, height, FSR, overlays, and approval likelihood.
Development potential
We score every lot for development signal — under-built relative to the controls, eligible for a granny flat, or sized for subdivision.
lots with remaining GFA capacity
under SEPP (Housing) 2021
lots that may support subdivision
adjoining lots with combined upside
show at least one development signal
within a TOD corridor (uplift expected)
average uplift signal across the suburb · 33 high-signal lots
Theoretical capacity if every lot built to its limit: 27,463 dwellings, with 1,418,015 m² of unused GFA across the suburb.
Own a property in Surry Hills?
Check your lot's exact development potential — height, FSR, granny flat, subdivision, dual-occ.
Constraints & risks
91% of lots have a heritage listing or sit in a Heritage Conservation Area — expect controls on demolition, alterations, and additions; also: 1.5% of lots are within 100m of a recorded contaminated site.
Suburb-wide percentages — your specific lot may have all, some, or none of these.
Mapped flood-prone land
RFS bushfire-prone land mapping
Heritage item or Conservation Area
Within 100 m of EPA-listed site
Mapped TEC vegetation
Coastal hazard mapping
ANEF / aircraft noise
Cleaners · serves Surry Hills, NSW
Level 3 457/459 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Market
Sales, rent, and yield data drawn from NSW Property Sales Information and rental bond data over the past 24 months.
DA activity
506 development applications for Surry Hills addresses were decided by Council of the City of Sydney over the past 24 months. 462 approved — a 91% approval rate. Average processing time: 30 days.
Demographics & lifestyle
ABS Census 2021 population data combined with lot-level amenity, healthcare, lifestyle, and crime indices.
Walkable amenity within 1 km
GP / hospital / pharmacy proximity
Cafés, parks, schools, transport
ZoneDSS Marketplace
136 businesses serving Surry Hills and nearby.
Cleaners
Level 3 457/459 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Landscape architect
Mary's 1/1 Marys Pl, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Civil engineering company
81-83 Campbell St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Architect
528 Cleveland St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Electrician
261 Crown St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Property management company
Suite 414/55 Holt St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Run a local business? Get found by property owners researching Surry Hills.
List your business — freeFAQs
Surry Hills is dominated by the R1 (General Residential) zone, which covers 1,901 of 3,428 lots (56%). The full mix is: R1 General Residential (56%), MU1 Mixed Use (40%), E1 Local Centre (3%), RE1 Public Recreation (1%), SP2 Infrastructure (1%).
Across Surry Hills, the average maximum building height is 11.9 m and the average maximum Floor Space Ratio (FSR) is 1.98:1. Individual lots can vary materially — height and FSR are set per zone in the Local Environmental Plan (LEP) and can be modified by overlays. For an exact figure on a specific address, generate a planning report.
Yes — 83 lots in Surry Hills appear eligible for a granny flat under SEPP (Housing) 2021, based on lot size, zoning, and frontage. Eligibility is lot-specific: get a planning report on your address to confirm.
The median sale price in Surry Hills over the past 24 months is $1,150,000, across 853 sales. Median unimproved land value is $1,530,000.
Median weekly rent for a house in Surry Hills is $963. Gross rental yield works out to 4.1%.
Council of the City of Sydney decided 506 development applications for Surry Hills addresses over the past 24 months, with 462 approved (91% approval rate). Average processing time is 30 days. Processing time depends heavily on application complexity, council backlog, and whether the application requires referral to other agencies.
Across Surry Hills, 91% with heritage controls, 1.5% near contaminated sites. These are suburb-wide percentages — every lot has its own combination. A planning report on a specific address shows exactly which controls apply.
3,340 of 3,428 lots in Surry Hills show identifiable development potential — under-developed for the planning controls, eligible for a granny flat, or capable of subdivision. 142 lots fall within a Transport Oriented Development corridor. Average rezoning signal score: 33.0 / 100.
Continue exploring
Compare zoning, development potential, and DA activity across other suburbs in Council of the City of Sydney and nearby postcodes.
Landscape architect · serves Surry Hills, NSW
Mary's 1/1 Marys Pl, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Suburb-wide stats are useful for context. For a buy-or-walk decision on a specific lot, you need every control, every constraint, and every clause cited to source.
Run a report — from A$2914-section report · LEP + SEPP + DCP cross-referenced · cited to source
Verify with official sources
Don't take our word for it. Every figure on this page is computed from authoritative New South Wales Government data — and you can verify any of it directly with the source.
Official zoning, height, FSR, and overlay maps for any NSW address. The primary source for everything on this page.
planningportal.nsw.gov.au
Cadastral lot boundaries, aerial imagery, easements, and environmental overlays from NSW Spatial Services.
maps.six.nsw.gov.au
State-listed heritage items and Heritage Conservation Areas. Search by suburb to see what's listed in Surry Hills.
hms.heritage.nsw.gov.au
Sites notified to the EPA under the Contaminated Land Management Act. Critical for due diligence on any address.
apps.epa.nsw.gov.au
Rural Fire Service map of bushfire-prone land categories. Triggers BAL assessment requirements for new builds.
rfs.nsw.gov.au
Australian Bureau of Statistics QuickStats for postcode 2010 — population, age, household composition, income, tenure.
abs.gov.au
Zoning, height, FSR, and overlays parsed from the Council of the City of Sydney Local Environmental Plan, applicable State Environmental Planning Policies, and the Development Control Plan. Property sales drawn from NSW Property Sales Information. DA history aggregated from the NSW Planning Portal. Heritage, flood, bushfire, contaminated land, TEC, sea-level rise, and aircraft noise overlays from the NSW Spatial Services and EPA registers. Population, age, income, and tenure from ABS Census 2021. Aggregated by ZoneDSS · last updated 2026-04-27.
Suburb-wide statistics — your specific lot may vary. Always run a planning report on the actual address before making a decision. How ZoneDSS works →