Real estate sign sizes in Australia: a practical spec sheet
Common Australian real estate sign sizes, from 600 x 900mm boards to photo and auction boards, with type size, photo resolution and board thickness explained.
By Proof & Print · Updated · 7 min read
Australian real estate signboards are most often 900 x 600mm for an everyday listing, 1200 x 900mm for a photo board, 1200 x 1800mm or 2400 x 1200mm for large photo, auction and prestige boards, and 600 x 450mm for apartments and lease signs. There is no national standard for real estate sign sizes, so check each board's area against your council's limit.
A real estate signboard has one job: get a passer-by, often in a moving car, to register the agency, the property and a phone number in a few seconds. Most agencies settle on a small family of formats and reuse it across every listing, which keeps artwork templates, frames and storage simple.
What size are real estate signboards in Australia?
Australian real estate signboards most commonly come in 900 x 600mm, 1200 x 900mm, 1200 x 1800mm, 2400 x 1200mm and 600 x 450mm. Dimensions are usually quoted width by height, though agencies and printers do not always agree on the order, so confirm orientation on every brief.
- 900 x 600mm (or 600 x 900mm portrait). The everyday listing board. Large enough for a logo, a headline, an agent name and phone number, and small enough to fit a standard frame or stake pair. It is our default size for corflute signboards.
- 1200 x 900mm. The usual step up when the board carries a hero photograph. It gives a photo enough area to read from the footpath without crowding the agency details.
- 1200 x 1800mm. A large photo or auction board, usually framed on posts. At 2.16 square metres it sits close to some council area limits, so check before you order.
- 2400 x 1200mm. A full sheet, used for prestige campaigns, commercial property and development sites. At 2.88 square metres it is larger than the 2.5 square metre limit that several NSW councils describe for a residential real estate sign, so it may need approval on a house block.
- 600 x 450mm. A compact board for apartments, strata frontages, office windows and lease signs where a large board would be out of scale.
- Riders and strips. Narrow panels or stickers, typically around 600 to 900mm wide and 150 to 200mm high, that sit across the top or bottom of a board to announce "Sold", "Auction this Saturday" or "Open home". They let one board carry a campaign through each stage.
- A-frame inserts. Footpath A-frames for open homes commonly take inserts of around 600 x 900mm per side. Our A-frame footpath signs are printed both sides, with a steel-frame option whose inserts swap between listings.
Area limits are the practical ceiling. In NSW, council guidance on the state exempt development code describes a 2.5 square metre limit for a residential real estate sign, one sign per property, removed within 14 days of sale or lease (The Hills Shire Council). In Victoria, the planning scheme exemption for a sign publicising the sale or letting of land is described as up to 10 square metres (Frankston City Council; Russell Kennedy on Amendment VC294). Rules differ by state and council; our guide to real estate sign rules in NSW, Victoria and Queensland goes into the detail.
How big should the type be on a real estate signboard?
Type on a real estate signboard must be large enough to read from where people actually are; type that is too small is the most common mistake on a listing board. A widely used sign-industry rule of thumb is about 25mm of capital letter height for every 3 metres of viewing distance for comfortable reading.
Applied to a typical suburban frontage:
- A board set back 5 to 8 metres from the road, read from the far side of the street, is often 12 to 20 metres from the reader. That suggests capitals of roughly 100 to 170mm for the line you most want read.
- On a 900 x 600mm board, that usually means one dominant line (the phone number or "For Sale"), not three competing ones.
- A car at 50 km/h covers about 14 metres a second. The reader gets one or two glances, so keep the message to the agency, the status and one contact.
Practical guidance for each format:
- 900 x 600mm: logo, one status word, agent name and a phone number of 60 to 80mm cap height. Leave the property description for the brochure and the listing site.
- 1200 x 900mm photo board: let the photo take around half to two thirds of the area, with a solid band for agency details so type is never set over a busy image.
- 1200 x 1800mm and larger: room for a headline, a photo, auction date and time, and a QR code. A QR code read from the footpath needs to be large, typically 150mm square or more, and tested at the distance it will be scanned from.
Contrast matters as much as size. Dark type on a light ground, or the reverse, reads further than mid-tone on mid-tone. Thin script faces and light weights disappear at distance.
What photo resolution does a real estate signboard need?
A real estate photo board needs the photographer's full-resolution file, checked against the pixel table below. Photo boards fail most often because the file came from a website rather than the photographer. Print resolution is measured at the final printed size, and a board viewed from a few metres needs less than a brochure held in the hand, but it still needs enough.
A workable target for boards is 100 to 150 pixels per inch at the printed size. In pixels, that works out to:
| Board size | At 100 ppi | At 150 ppi |
|---|---|---|
| 600 x 450mm | 2,362 x 1,772 | 3,543 x 2,657 |
| 900 x 600mm | 3,543 x 2,362 | 5,315 x 3,543 |
| 1200 x 900mm | 4,724 x 3,543 | 7,087 x 5,315 |
| 1200 x 1800mm | 4,724 x 7,087 | 7,087 x 10,630 |
A 24 megapixel camera file is about 6,000 x 4,000 pixels, which is comfortable for a 1200 x 900mm board if it is not cropped hard. A 2,048 pixel web export stretched across the same board falls to around 43 ppi and will look soft. Ask your photographer for the full-resolution file, and allow for cropping when you choose the image. Checking image resolution at the printed size is point two on the written checklist a person works through on every proof we prepare.
Set artwork at full size with 3mm bleed on every edge, and keep text and logos inside a safe area well clear of corners where eyelets or frame clips sit.
Should a real estate signboard be single or double sided?
A real estate signboard fixed flat to a fence or facade only needs one printed side. A board on stakes or a post frame that stands side-on to the street is seen from both directions, so it needs both. Corner blocks, and streets with traffic in both directions, are the usual cases for double sided.
On our corflute price book, a set of five 900 x 600mm boards is $195 printed one side or $315 printed both sides; ten double-sided boards are $410. Five 1200 x 900mm boards printed both sides are $455. For a board that will be seen from both directions, the second side is where most of its value lies.
Which material and thickness suits a real estate signboard?
Most real estate listing boards are 3mm corflute; 3mm ACM suits prestige listings and boards reused over many campaigns. Size and material go together. A large board in a thin material bows and flaps in wind, while a small board in a heavy material is overbuilt for a four-week campaign.
- Corflute (fluted polypropylene), 3mm. The standard for listing boards, riders and A-frame inserts. Light, weather resistant and economical. Our corflute boards are 3mm with eyelets in each corner.
- Corflute, 5mm. Stiffer, sometimes chosen for 1200 x 1800mm boards or exposed sites.
- Aluminium composite panel (ACM), 3mm. Two thin aluminium skins over a plastic core. Flat, rigid and long-lived, for prestige listings, commercial property and boards reused over many campaigns. Our ACM signboards start at $305 for a single 600 x 450mm board; larger and double-sided ACM boards are specified and quoted by your consultant.
- Foam PVC, 3mm or 5mm. Smooth and rigid, and mostly an indoor material for marketing suites and receptions rather than a street board.
We compare these in more depth in corflute vs aluminium signboards.
What should you check before ordering a real estate signboard?
Check these seven points before ordering a real estate signboard:
- Confirm the size and orientation in millimetres, width first.
- Check the area against your council's limit for the zone.
- Decide single or double sided based on where the board will stand.
- Size the main line for the real viewing distance.
- Use full-resolution photography and check the pixel count against the table above.
- Supply artwork with 3mm bleed and a generous safe area.
- Agree how riders and "Sold" strips will fit before the first board prints.
Our corflute signboards come in 600 x 450mm, 900 x 600mm and 1200 x 900mm, printed one or both sides, with frames, stakes and installation arranged through your consultant. See the corflute signboards page for the full price table, or the real estate sector page for how we support agencies across listings, brochures and office stationery.
Sources
- Real Estate Signage Fact Sheet, The Hills Shire Council (accessed 17 October 2026)
- Real Estate Signage Guidelines 2018, Frankston City Council (accessed 17 October 2026)
- Amendment VC294 changes to sign permit requirements, Russell Kennedy Lawyers (accessed 17 October 2026)
- Permitted Advertising Devices Designation, Brisbane City Council (accessed 17 October 2026)
This article is general information, not legal, planning or professional advice. Check anything that matters with the relevant authority or your adviser.