Why “DA approved” may be worth nothing

"DA approved" in a listing is doing a lot of work. Before you pay a premium for it, three questions.

1. When does it lapse?

Approvals have a finite life. An approval granted three years ago on a scheme that never started may have very little time left — and if it lapses before you can commence, you have paid for a piece of paper. Check the commencement and completion conditions on the notice of decision, not the approval date.

2. Is it the scheme you would build?

An approval is for a specific design. If you would change the layout, the number of dwellings, the height, the access or the materials, you may need an amendment — and depending on the scale, that can take as long as a fresh application. An approval for three small dwellings has no value to someone who wants to build two large ones.

3. Has the LVC been paid or deferred?

This is the ACT-specific trap, and it now has real money attached to it. If the Lease Variation Charge was paid or deferred before 10 June 2026, the block is ineligible for the missing middle 50% remission — permanently. A site with an older approval can therefore be worth materially less than an identical site with no approval at all, because the concession has been burned.

4. Has the seller already charged you for it?

The uplift from an approval is exactly what the implied approved land value on this site's page estimates. If the asking price already sits at or above that figure, the vendor has captured the entire benefit of the approval and you are taking the construction risk for nothing.