In Perth, the rooms you spend the day in should face north. Which side of the street your block sits on decides how easy that is, and it is one of the first things that rules a home design in or out.
The reason is the sun’s path. In Australia the sun tracks across the northern sky, so north-facing windows get low winter sun for most of the day and are easy to shade from the high summer sun with ordinary eaves. East and west windows do the opposite: they catch low, hot sun early and late in summer, and they are much harder to shade.
That advice comes from Your Home, the Australian Government’s guide to sustainable home design. Perth sits in its Climate Zone 5, warm temperate, the same zone as Sydney and Adelaide. For that zone, Your Home’s aim is to balance winter sun and summer shade, and it says north orientation of living spaces is desirable.
How exact does “north” need to be?
Not very. Your Home’s guidance for choosing a home off the plan is to set the daytime living areas so they face somewhere between 15° west of north and 20° east of true north on your site. Inside that range the house still gets good winter sun.
Two points trip people up:
- True north is not compass north. Your Home’s figures refer to true (solar) north. A compass shows magnetic north, which can sit some way off. Your Home notes that Google Maps and most smartphones use true north by default, but it is worth checking your settings before you stand on a block with your phone.
- The plan already shows it. A plan of subdivision or a land sales plan has a north point on it. Use that rather than guessing from the street.
The side of the street changes everything
Most blocks in Perth’s newer estates are long and narrow, with the short side facing the street. On those blocks, which side of the street you are on decides where north falls.
| Your block | Where north is | What suits it |
|---|---|---|
| On the north side of an east–west street | Behind the house, at the backyard | A rear-living design: kitchen, family room and alfresco across the back |
| On the south side of an east–west street | At the front, towards the street | A design that brings north light in another way, such as a courtyard, or living set back behind a north-facing garden |
| On a north–south street (the block runs east–west) | Along one side boundary | A design with living and outdoor space down the north side, and a block wide enough to fit it |
North at the back: the easy case
If the street is on the south side of your block, the backyard faces north. Your Home describes this as the arrangement that lets north-facing living areas and gardens sit at the rear of the house, where they are also private.
Most designs in our catalogue are drawn this way, with the open-plan living and alfresco at the rear. The Southern Cross, for example, keeps the living at the rear with a generous alfresco off it, and The Velocity and The Collective both connect rear open-plan living to an alfresco. On a north-facing backyard, designs like these work without much adjustment.
North at the front: the harder case
If the street is on the north side of your block, the sunny side is the street side, and the entry, garage and front garden all want that frontage too. Your Home’s advice is that blocks like this need to be wide enough for an entry at the front as well as private north-facing living, and it suggests setting the house back to make room for a north-facing garden or a private courtyard.
This is where a courtyard design earns its place. The Lookout is built around a central courtyard that brings natural light into the middle of the home, and The Momentum, at 10.5m, uses its central courtyard as the light source for the centre of the house. On a north-to-the-front block, a design that gets light from the middle depends far less on which way the backyard faces.
A rear-living design on a north-to-the-front block is not impossible, but the living areas will face south, so they will get little winter sun. If you love a rear-living plan, it is better to know that before you buy the land than after.
North down the side
When a block runs east–west, north falls along one long side. Your Home notes that these blocks need to be wide enough to fit north-facing outdoor space, and that overshadowing from the neighbour on that side is more likely, because winter sun is low. A side courtyard or living areas strung along the north boundary suit these blocks better than a plan that puts everything at the back.
Narrow blocks
On a narrow lot, the neighbours are close and the house next door can shade your north windows, especially if it is two storeys. Your Home’s advice for narrow blocks is to prioritise north-facing glass for winter warmth. Courtyards help here too: several of our narrowest designs, including The Haven at 7.5m, put a courtyard into a small footprint. Our guide to narrow lot home designs lists which designs fit each frontage.
Overshadowing works both ways. The state’s Residential Design Codes include provisions on solar access for adjoining sites, so your design also has to respect the neighbour to your south.
Mirroring a design to suit the block
A floor plan can usually be flipped left to right so the living areas land on the sunny side. Your Home notes that most off-the-plan builders will mirror or flip a design at no extra cost. That is a general observation, not a promise from any one builder, so ask the builder to confirm it in writing for your design before you sign.
Mirroring fixes a lot, but not everything. It moves rooms from one side to the other; it cannot move the backyard from south to north.
The rest of the house
Living areas get the attention, but Your Home has advice for the other rooms too:
- Avoid west-facing bedrooms. They take the late afternoon sun and can be too hot to sleep in.
- Put utility rooms on the south or west. Laundries, bathrooms and garages make good buffers on the hot side of the house.
- Keep west glass small and shaded. If a living area has to face west, shading on the outside of the window matters more than any blind.
- Plant deciduous trees to the north. They shade in summer and let the winter sun through once they drop their leaves.
Breezes matter as well. Your Home’s small-lot diagrams are drawn for eastern Australia, and it notes that breeze directions should be reversed for Western Australia. Look at where the cooling summer breeze reaches your block, and place openable windows on both sides of the living areas so it can flow through.
What to check before you sign for land
- Find north on the land plan, not from the street or a compass.
- Note which side of the street the block is on, and therefore whether north is at the back, the front or the side.
- Look at the neighbours, built and planned. A two-storey home to your north can shade your living areas in winter.
- Read the estate’s design guidelines. Some fix where the garage goes or which way the facade faces, especially on corner lots, and that limits how far you can turn or mirror a design.
- Match the design to the block, not the other way round. If the plan you like is rear-living, look for land with north at the back.
- Ask whether the design can be mirrored, and get the builder’s answer in writing.
Our guide on how to evaluate a land release covers the other checks worth doing on a new estate.
Where House & Land Co fits
We are an independent building broker, not a builder. We work across a panel of builders, so we can start from your block and work back to the designs that suit it, rather than starting from one builder’s range. If you send us the lot number or address, we will tell you what the frontage, orientation and estate guidelines allow before you fall for a floor plan.
You can browse every design with its floor plan on our home designs page, and our service costs you nothing: we are paid by the builder you choose, and how we get paid is set out in full. If you have a block in mind, send it to our team and we will tell you which way it faces and which designs suit it.
Common questions
Should the front of my house face north?
Not necessarily. What matters is that the living areas face north. If your block has north at the back, a rear-living design faces its living areas north while the front of the house faces south, and that is the easiest arrangement to get right.
Is a north-facing backyard better?
For a typical long, narrow block it is the easiest orientation to design for, because the private outdoor area and the main living areas can share the northern sun at the back. Your Home describes this arrangement as allowing north-facing living and gardens at the rear for privacy.
Is a south-facing block bad?
No, but it asks more of the design. On a block with north at the street, look for a design that brings light in through a courtyard, or that sets the living areas back behind a north-facing garden, and check the block is wide enough for both an entry and north-facing living.
Can any home design be flipped to suit my block?
Most floor plans can be mirrored left to right. Your Home notes that most off-the-plan builders will do this at no extra cost, but confirm it with your builder for your design, and check the estate guidelines do not fix the garage position.
How do I find true north on my block?
Use the north point on the plan of subdivision or the land sales plan. If you use a phone, check it is set to true north rather than magnetic north.
General information only. Orientation guidance is drawn from Your Home, the Australian Government’s guide to sustainable homes. Every block is different: check your land plan, the estate’s design guidelines and your builder’s advice before you choose a design.
