Before you make an offer
Aircraft noise is one of the exposures a listing rarely spells out. This guide explains what an Australian Noise Exposure Forecast (ANEF) contour is, how Perth Airport and Jandakot publish them, and exactly what to verify for a Perth property before you commit to an offer. It is plain-English decision support — not advice, and not a substitute for the official sources or a qualified professional.
The basics
ANEF stands for Australian Noise Exposure Forecast. It is a forecasting system that maps expected long-term aircraft-noise exposure around an airport as a set of contour lines, with higher numbers indicating greater forecast exposure. The Australian Standard AS 2021:2015 uses ANEF contour values to set out which building uses it considers acceptable, conditional or unacceptable at a given location, and the construction approaches for reducing indoor aircraft noise.
An ANEF is an area forecast, not a recording of any single flight or day. A property near a runway end or under a flight path can experience distinct overflight even where the contour band looks modest, which is why the contour is a starting point rather than the whole picture.
AS 2021 lists houses as an acceptable building use below the ANEF 20 contour. This is the lowest-exposure band in the standard for residential siting.
AS 2021 lists houses in this range as conditionally acceptable, with the standard noting that site selection and council attitudes can vary. Construction measures to reduce indoor noise may be relevant.
AS 2021 lists houses above the ANEF 25 contour as unacceptable for that building use. Higher contour values indicate greater forecast aircraft-noise exposure.
Band descriptions summarised from Australian Standard AS 2021:2015 (Standards Australia), which lists houses as acceptable below ANEF 20, conditional from ANEF 20 to 25, and unacceptable above ANEF 25. Checked June 2026.
Why it matters in Perth
Perth has two federally leased airports whose forecast noise reaches into residential areas. Perth Airport sits east of the CBD and serves domestic and international traffic, with ANEF contours and flight paths affecting suburbs around Belmont, the Swan and Kalamunda areas, and the corridors aligned with its runways. Jandakot Airport is a busy general-aviation airport in the south-east, near Cockburn and Canning, with its own published ANEF covering the suburbs around it.
Whether a specific property is affected is not a matter of suburb reputation — it is determined by where the lot sits against the relevant operator’s published ANEF chart and the flight paths that serve it. Two homes on the same street can sit in different bands, and a property well outside the contours can still experience occasional overflight. Locating the exact address against the published charts is the first thing to confirm.
AddressTwin’s aircraft-noise layerflags an address against published Perth Airport and Jandakot ANEF information, labelled with its confidence and date. It is a prompt to verify directly with the airport operators, Airservices Australia and the local government before an offer — not an official ANEF determination, and not a guarantee about any specific property.
Your pre-offer checklist
Aircraft-noise exposure can affect how a home feels to live in, what construction measures apply, and how planning provisions treat the lot — all things worth understanding before, not after, you commit. Work through these checks for the specific lot.
Perth Airport and Jandakot Airport each publish ANEF charts. Locating the exact lot against the relevant chart tells you the forecast aircraft-noise band for that property — the starting point for everything else.
ANEF contours forecast average exposure, but a home can experience distinct overflight depending on runway use and flight paths. Airservices Australia publishes flight-path and aircraft-movement information you can review for the area.
State and local planning provisions can apply to land near Perth Airport and Jandakot. The relevant City, Shire or Town planning team can tell you what aircraft-noise considerations attach to a specific lot.
Where a site falls in a higher ANEF band, AS 2021 describes construction approaches to reduce indoor aircraft noise. If you intend to build, extend or renovate, the applicable measures can affect cost — worth understanding before you commit.
A contour is a forecast, not a recording of a single day. Visiting the property at different times, and reviewing published aircraft-noise monitoring and complaint information for the area, helps you understand lived exposure before an offer.
Where this comes from
AddressTwin aggregates public data with attribution. We are not Perth Airport, Jandakot Airport, Airservices Australia, a government body, or a licensed adviser — these are the official sources you should verify directly for any specific property.
Standards Australia
The Australian Standard that sets building site-acceptability guidance against ANEF contour values (including the ANEF 20 and 25 thresholds for houses) and construction approaches for reducing indoor aircraft noise.
Visit sourcePerth Airport Pty Ltd
The airport operator publishes Australian Noise Exposure Forecast (ANEF) information and aircraft-noise resources for the Perth Airport area, used to locate a property against forecast noise contours.
Visit sourceJandakot Airport Holdings
Jandakot Airport, a federally leased general-aviation airport in Perth’s south-east, publishes master-plan and Australian Noise Exposure Forecast (ANEF) information covering its own surrounding area.
Visit sourceAirservices Australia
Airservices Australia provides aircraft-movement, flight-path and noise-monitoring information, and hosts the Aircraft Noise Ombudsman, which reviews how aircraft-noise concerns are handled.
Visit sourceSource titles, publishers and links were current as at the dates shown. Government, standards-body and airport-operator resources change — always confirm against the live source for the exact property. This guide is general information and decision support only; it is not financial, property or building advice, and it does not replace an official ANEF determination or a qualified acoustic assessment.
AddressTwin turns official WA data — aircraft and traffic noise, bushfire mapping, contaminated sites, crime, schools, transport and more — into a plain-English, source-dated pre-offer risk report. See a worked example, then run your own address.