Getting your kids living in the right school catchment area is a big priority for many Australian families. But it comes with a premium price tag.
Using a new custom boundary analysis, property research group Cotality compared property values inside popular public high school catchments with comparable homes in the same suburbs, just outside the zone.
The results confirm what many buyers already suspected: many popular school zones attract a hefty housing premium. The catch? While they might attract a premium, they don’t always deliver when it comes to capital growth longer term.
School zone premiums
The largest price gap was seen in Sydney’s leafy North Shore, where homes in the combined catchments of Killara High School, Willoughby Girls High School and Lindfield Learning Village held a median value nearly $1.3 million (or 39.8 per cent) above homes nearby but outside the catchment.
Despite this, houses in the catchment recorded lower long-term growth of 126 per cent over the past 15 years, compared to 150 per cent in neighbouring markets.
In Melbourne, the premium for homes in the catchments of Princes Hill and University High School reached $357,000, though capital growth was again weaker than surrounding suburbs – 82.6 per cent, compared to 106.1 per cent over 15 years.
Of the nine school catchment clusters analysed across Sydney and Melbourne, seven had higher median house values compared to out-of-catchment homes. However, six of these also recorded lower capital growth over the past 15 years.
The exceptions
The report also highlights popular school catchment zones where property prices did not carry a premium compared to areas outside the zone within the same suburb – suggesting that good schools don’t always guarantee higher property prices.
Houses in the catchment of the Cherrybrook Technology High School were $155,000 lower than outside the catchment in the same suburbs, while houses in the Doncaster Secondary College catchment were $48,000 lower than those outside the catchment.
What about a private school?
Paying a housing premium in a high-performing public school zone could represent a long-term saving when compared to private school fees.
According to Futurity Investment Group, the average cost of 13 years of private education in Australia was estimated at $349,000 in 2022, with significantly higher costs reported in Sydney and Melbourne. Some leading Sydney private schools charge upwards of $46,000 annually, placing the cost of secondary education alone at around $276,000 per child.
In six of the nine regions Cotality analysed, the house price premium within public school zones was at least $100,000. While that’s a significant upfront cost, it could end up saving families money when compared to paying for private schooling over many years.
