A regional city is considering a housing development that would fit a row of compact homes onto a suburban block. The plan would replace an older house and its backyard with smaller dwellings built around a shared driveway.
The application matters because it shows how established neighbourhoods are being asked to absorb growth. It also tests whether smaller homes can meet demand in a city known for larger houses on larger blocks.
Image: Epsom Railway Station, by Brad F 89 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What is proposed at 22-24 Goynes Road
Developers have asked the local council for permission to build 14 homes on a property in Epsom about 2,787 square metres in size, under a $3.2 million building plan. The site at 22-24 Goynes Road currently holds a single house and a backyard, and the plans would need to fit a new communal driveway, small backyards and carports.
A planning application is the formal request for approval that a landowner needs before building. The Goynes Road proposal sits at that stage, so nothing has been approved yet.
Twelve of the new homes would have two bedrooms, with a total floor area of 143.58 square metres each. That space includes a small backyard area, a shed and two car spaces. The other two homes would have three bedrooms and sit at the front of the property, with 163.03 square metres each. All 14 would have garage space, along with living and dining areas.
The developers told the council they would set the houses 7.5 metres back from the street to help maintain the neighbourhood's character. They described the setback as a way to keep a low-density presence within the streetscape.
A suburb expected to keep growing
The Epsom and Ascot area has a combined 8,000 people in 2026, and that number could reach 9,830 over 20 years, a rise of about 22 per cent by 2046.
Epsom is one of the areas where the city expects population to keep climbing.
That growth is one reason developers are looking at sites like Goynes Road. It is also why the council has spent years talking about the need to boost Bendigo's stock of smaller homes, to cater for young working professionals, an ageing population and smaller family units.
A council strategy adopted in 2024 noted an "increasing number of residents living in dwellings of three or more bedrooms occupied by only one or two people". It said a mix of housing sizes could help make neighbourhoods more affordable and liveable.
What the council's strategy says
The wider plan sits in the City of Greater Bendigo's Managed Growth Strategy, adopted in 2024 and covering growth to 2056. It sets a long-term policy position that 70 per cent of urban development should happen in established areas, with the remaining 30 per cent in the growth areas of Marong, Maiden Gully, Strathfieldsaye and Huntly.
Currently, less than half of urban development happens in established areas. The strategy wants to lift infill development, which means building new homes on land inside areas that already have roads, shops and services, rather than adding estates on the city's edge.
Medium density is the other lever. The term covers units, townhouses and villa-style homes, the housing types that sit between a stand-alone house and an apartment block. The strategy aims to lift medium density from 8 to 15 per cent of development over the next 15 years, and infill from 47 to 70 per cent of urban development by 2056.
The case for smaller homes rests on household data. At the 2021 Census, 64 per cent of households in Greater Bendigo had only one or two people. More than three quarters of the region's housing has three or more bedrooms.
Construction has not kept pace. Since 2011, 588 medium-density dwellings such as units and townhouses were built in Greater Bendigo, compared with 9,900 stand-alone houses. Medium density accounted for 8.7 per cent of total housing development, below the regional Victorian average of 9.4 per cent.
The strategy calls this a disconnect between demographic trends and the housing being built. It notes that smaller dwellings can free up larger houses for larger households.
The strategy keeps a role for greenfield sites too, the undeveloped land on the urban edge, with a minimum of 15 lots per net developable hectare expected in those areas. The strategy is set to be reviewed every five years.
The city's projections point to the need for around 1,100 new dwellings a year to 2056, while residential building approvals have fallen below 700 a year over the past two years.
The application is not the first of its kind. Several developers have tried in recent years to fit smaller units onto suburban Bendigo properties, and not all of those plans have avoided opposition from neighbours or the council.
What it means for the market
Greater Bendigo is forecast to need an additional 87,000 people and 38,000 dwellings by 2056, a growth rate of about 1.6 per cent a year. About 32,000 of those homes would be built inside urban Bendigo.
For buyers, every small home built in an established area adds an option that does not require a move to the edge of town. That suits households that want to stay close to schools, shops and public transport, and it suits the council, because established areas already have the infrastructure.
The strategy notes its targets are consistent with state planning policy, which also encourages infill development.
The decision is also one to watch for anyone following Bendigo's property market.
What happens next
The council is still considering the Goynes Road application and expects to make a decision at a later date. The developers were contacted for comment.
For now, the proposal shows how far the city's housing targets reach into individual streets. The strategy sets the direction; each application decides the pace.
Readers can explore other parts of the state through the Victoria local guide.
Works Cited
O'Callaghan, Tom. "Squeezed In: The Street Where Homes Smaller Than a Tennis Court Could Rise." Bendigo Advertiser, 21 Sept. 2026, https://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/9350318/developers-propose-14-tennis-court-sized-homes-in-bendigo/.
City of Greater Bendigo. "Managed Growth Strategy." City of Greater Bendigo, Oct. 2024, https://www.bendigo.vic.gov.au/about-us/plans-strategies-and-documents/managed-growth-strategy.
Brad F 89. "Epsom Railway Station." Wikimedia Commons, 28 June 2015, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Epsom_Railway_Station.jpg.