TOP notch public schools have boosted property prices by hundreds of thousands of dollars and we’ve found the next generation of premium real estate school zones.
Public school catchments are the defined geographic areas from which schools draw their student population, and families are competing for homes in popular catchments to be among the enrolment.
Brisbane State High School’s (BSHS) popularity has seen demand for catchment housing near frenzy.
Some BSHS catchment families even launched legal action this year after missing out on enrolment.
But there are other great schools throughout Brisbane and price premiums are being achieved in those suburbs too, according to Property Pursuit Buyers’ Agents principal, Meighan Hetherington.
“By sending the children to a very strong state school, they could be saving somewhere in the vicinity of $40,000 to $120,000 per child over the seven-year course of that junior schooling,” Ms Hetherington said.
“Over three or four school-age children it’s a really significant saving in school funding that they can then contribute to the house or private secondary schooling,” she said.
Ms Hetherington said the difference in price between being in or out of a catchment can be huge.
“If you’re on the wrong side of the line, I’ve found there can be up to 12 percent differential between a similar or comparable property in the same street,” she said.
“We’re sometimes talking about a $1.6 million house on one side of the street versus a $1.8 million on the other side that’s in a catchment,” she said.
Ms Hetherington said prime school zones have the three Cs — community, culture and cafes.
She said a fantastic principal coupled with a stable teaching roster, excellent facilities and programs, strong community support and a local cafe hub all combined to create desirable districts.
Among her top tier picks, Ms Hetherington said Ironside State School was most interesting.
“It’s aspirational and the housing prices around Ironside are well above the Brisbane median. It’s one of the schools I find people will most compromise on their property wish list in order to get in,” she said.
“Rainworth is really interesting too because, along with great facilities, they have an extraordinarily strong community around it.
Ms Hetherington said among those on the rise, Eagle Junction State School caught her eye.
“When Kalinga became a suburb in its own right, popularity increased in that school,” she said.
She said Eagle Junction parents are beginning to concede on house quality in order to get in the zone.
Sharee and Brett Cuthbert and their three children are moving to Brisbane in 2018.
Mrs Cuthbert said they’ve looked for a Brisbane home for the past 12 months, and the prime element was school zones.
“Good schools are driving prices up in rental and buying markets,” Mrs Cuthbert said.
Mrs Cuthbert said while top academic results were positive, they were happy to pay the premium for a total community experience.
“The community feel is the best thing about going to those schools — being in the same neighbourhood where the kids can ride their bikes around,” she said.
But competition has been tough according to Mrs Cuthbert.
“We actually looked at the house that was one house outside the catchment, and that will be affecting that home’s price,” she said.
“Then there was one in the zone we went to on a really busy road and it was swarming with families,” she said.
Current hot State School zones:
Ironside (St Lucia)
Indooroopilly
Macgregor
Wilston
Ashgrove
Rainworth
Bulimba
Hot zones “on the rise”
Eagle Junction (Clayfield)
Norman Park
Kenmore South
Graceville
Bardon
Originally Published: www.weeklytimesnow.com.au