1. Parcel facts
Land area, frontage, depth and shape from the cadastre, plus easements and title notes. Everything downstream is geometry first — a report that has not read the parcel cannot honestly estimate a yield.
Whether you are an owner wondering if your block is worth more to a developer than to a home buyer, an agent preparing a listing pitch, or a buyer sizing up a site, the document you want is the same: a report that connects the planning facts to the commercial answer. Use the checklist below to judge any report you are offered — including ours.
The ten components of a complete report
2. Zoning & permissible products
The zone, and in plain language what it actually permits — single dwellings, dual occupancy, townhouses, apartments, mixed use. A zone code alone is a label, not an answer.
3. Overlays & constraints
Heritage, character, flood, bushfire, trees, airport or corridor overlays — each can shrink the envelope or add conditions. The honest report lists what applies and what it means.
4. Density & minimum-lot logic
The site-area-per-dwelling or lot-size minimums that set the theoretical ceiling, shown with the arithmetic — so you can see how the yield number was reached, not just accept it.
5. Practical yield
The realistic dwelling or lot count once frontage, access, parking, open space and setbacks are respected — usually a range, and honest about which end is comfortable. See how many units can I fit? for the method.
6. Local precedent
What has recently been approved nearby — land divisions, multi-dwelling projects — because precedent is the strongest tell for how the planning system treats sites like this one.
7. End values from evidence
Comparable sales and market medians for the finished product, from real data — not a hopeful per-unit figure. End values drive everything after them.
8. Indicative costs
Construction, professional fees, contingency, selling and finance at stated, published rates — labelled as defaults to be replaced with quotes, never presented as a QS estimate.
9. Residual land value
The number that makes the report commercial: working backwards from end values through costs and margin to what a developer could pay for the land. This is the figure owners are almost never shown. Method: how to calculate RLV.
10. Risks & next actions
A plain-language list of what could kill the scheme, what evidence is missing, and the sensible next step — survey, planner, agent, or walk away. A report without a “what next” is a brochure.
Computed report vs the typical PDF property report
Both formats have a job. A records-style property report is a fine way to confirm recorded facts. The comparison below is about scope — what each format is built to answer.
| What it covers | Typical PDF property report | Computed development potential report (GoSiteHunt) |
|---|---|---|
| Title, land size, last sale | Yes — recorded facts | Yes — parcel facts from the cadastre |
| Zoning | Usually a zone label on a map | Zone plus what it permits and the density/lot-size arithmetic |
| Estimated value | Automated estimate of the dwelling as it stands | Comparable-evidence end values for the finished scheme, stated as a range |
| Dwelling / lot yield | Not typically covered | Practical yield range from parcel geometry and controls |
| Local approval precedent | Not typically covered | Nearby approvals as a planning-appetite signal |
| Development costs & residual land value | Not typically covered | Indicative costs and the resulting max land price to a developer |
| Risk list & next actions | Reader's job | Explicit, with missing-evidence flags |
| Format | Static snapshot at purchase date | Computed on demand from live data; re-run any time |
The comparison describes report formats, not any particular provider. If a static report covers a row above, good — the checklist is the point.
What no report can do: no automated report — ours included — is a valuation, a planning approval or financial advice. Its job is to tell you whether the site deserves professional spend, and to make sure the first professional conversation starts from evidence instead of hope.
Who uses one, and for what
Owners
Find out whether your block reads as a development site and what a developer could pay for the land — before an agent or a door-knocker tells you their version. Start with the free What's My Site Worth screen.
Agents
Walk into the listing appointment with the development upside computed: yield, end values, developer land value and the talking points. That is the Agent Hub pre-listing report, and a branded vendor report is $49.
Developers & buyers
Screen candidates fast and only pay for due diligence on sites that survive the numbers. Run the 60-second Deal Killer Checklist, then the full site report — 1 credit, 50 free to start.
Judge the market before you judge the block
A development potential report answers one address. For the context around it — suburb medians, rents by bedroom, indicative yields and where the numbers line up state-wide — GoSiteHunt Research publishes free, open-data pages: the Adelaide, NSW, Victoria and Queensland opportunity indexes, and a data page for every covered suburb, postcode and LGA. Reading the area first makes the address-level report mean more.
Honest FAQ
- What is a development potential report?
- A per-property answer to two questions: what could legally and physically be built here, and what do the numbers say about doing it. The complete version covers the ten components above — from parcel facts through residual land value to risks and next actions.
- How is it different from a standard property report?
- A standard report restates recorded facts and estimates the value of the house as it stands. A development potential report computes what the land could carry and what that makes the land worth to a developer — often a very different number, and the one that matters if your block is larger or well-zoned.
- Is it a valuation?
- No — it is screening. It exists so you spend on valuers, planners and architects only when the numbers say the site deserves it. Treat any automated report claiming to replace a valuation with caution.
- What does it cost?
- The first read is free from the address at What's My Site Worth. The full site report is 1 credit (50 free trial credits on signup); agent-branded vendor reports are $49. Consultant-prepared feasibility studies are a later, deeper step.
- What should make me suspicious of a report?
- A single confident unit count with no arithmetic shown; an end value with no comparable evidence; a land value with no cost or margin workings; no mention of overlays, easements or risks; and no suggested next action. Completeness is the tell — hence the checklist.
Get yours in about a minute
Type an address, get the development read and the developer's-eyes land value free — then decide, on evidence, whether the full report, an agent conversation or a professional feasibility is the right next dollar.