Where are new residents going to build as Ballarat rapidly grows?

Currently, Ballarat's key grow zone is Ballarat West, which includes the rapidly expanding suburb of Lucas.

The next area will be the northern growth zone, in Mount Rowan, and underpinning this will be the precinct structure plan currently being prepared by the Victorian Planning Authority as part of the process to develop the land for growth.

The northern growth zone will have approximately 6000 lots released for residential housing, including parts of Mount Rowan and Miners Rest, all north of the Western Freeway.

The structure plan, along with a development contribution plan, is needed for the development which is expected to be gazetted mid-2026, about two years from now, after the area was rezoned in 2022.

By 2040, Ballarat's population is estimated to be 170,000 - the estimated population now is over 118,000 and regional Victoria is feeling to full effect of the housing shortage and rental crisis.

There are no signs of Ballarat's growth slowing down either, being one of the highest growing areas in Victoria.

Ballarat's next growth areas are the northern, western and north-western areas.

There are between 1500 to 1900 houses are being built a year in Ballarat but to accommodate this, and new residents, land needs to be ready and infrastructure is needed, council has repeatedly reiterated.

Preparing growth areas and having appropriate infrastructure can cost up to $800 million.

This can be having proper water and sewer structure, childcare, schools and other community services.

City of Ballarat mayor Des Hudson said council needed to partner with the state government in order to continue to grow effectively and have liveable suburbs via these growth zones.

"We don't want to be in a situation where people are living with something with poor planning, by failing to put in the essential community infrastructure"," he said.

Ballarat Real Estate general manager Allister Morrison said when people are looking to build their homes, they look for these things.

"All of those kinds linkages are really important because that's what attracts people to be those areas and you don't want certain certain areas being underserved as compared to other areas," he said.

"It's important to have a base level of services available, key things like shopping, education and healthcare."

Mr Morrison said there was a "big push" for housing as the population grows.

"Accommodation in new development areas, new subdivisions are just going to be a requirement -they need to have those spaces to build on," he said.

Mr Morrison said more land rezoned would mean more supply, which might bring some relief to housing prices.

"Supply is seen as a big solution to cost of housing, cost of the land is a driver but so is the cost of building," he said.

"Having the raw land available in the market makes it potentially a little more affordable because right now getting a block of land is so expensive."

Mr Morrison said having a steady supply of new sites was better for housing affordability.

"As long as there is planning around consistent, steady and reliable stream of new properties and in a planned approach, that's preferable," he said.

If land was released too fast, demand for construction would push the prices up, Mr Morrison said.

The northern plan completed a second stakeholder engagement phase with precinct landowners and agencies in December 2023, with the vision and purpose survey summary released.

Technical studies for areas such as community infrastructure, housing demand, water supply are being finalised for initial plans.