Homes on fringe of zones for South Australia’s best public schools are jumping in value

HOUSE prices within desirable state high schools zones can be hundreds of thousands of dollars more expensive than prices on the wrong side of boundaries, data shows.

PRICES of homes within zones for desirable government high schools such as Adelaide, Marryatville, Glenunga International, Unley or Brighton can be hundreds of thousands of dollars more expensive than prices in suburbs on the wrong side of zone boundaries.

Despite agents, buyers and principals agreeing that a house in the right zone can make all the difference, just how much value the zone adds remains up for debate however — with Adelaide’s most desirable public schools usually found in blue ribbon locations anyway.

And property valuers admit that there is very little evidence to show that cross-boundary price differences can actually be pinned on school zoning.

Nonetheless, real estate price data shows that across Adelaide, prices are usually higher within reputable school zones.

Within the Unley High School zone, the median house price in Torrens Park was around $679,000 in August according to RP Data.

Across the train tracks to the west - and outside the Unley zone - the median price dropped around $40,000 in Lower Mitcham or more than $100,000 in Clapham.

Unley Park’s typical house within the Unley catchment was around double the price of houses in nearby suburbs in the Pasadena High zone such as Clarence Park and Westbourne Park.

The median price as you leave Adelaide High’s catchment in Prospect dropped significantly in Sefton Park, Devon Park and Renown Park.

And the median house price in Oaklands Park — to the east of the Brighton School zone — was almost $200,000 less than in North Brighton.

While the beach has something to do with the price difference around Brighton, the attraction of the music and volleyball programs at Brighton Secondary School also plays a role.

Just how much of a role though remains a mystery.

A 2008 University of Auckland academic paper looked at this issue in New Zealand and concluded that the influence of school zones on home prices is not uniform.

Property valuation expert Peter Rossini from UniSA said it can be hard separating the effect of school zones from other factors.

“It’s one of those issues where a lot of people talk about these sort of effects, but when you go out and measure them they’re often really hard to find,” he said.

“Often it is just anecdotes.”

Every real estate agent The Advertiser contacted agreed that school zones made a difference for some buyers, but none could quantify how much difference to price zone boundaries actually make.

Among them Peter Brown from Toop & Toop recently sold a Malvern property near Glenunga International High School zone where three underbidders were looking for a house within that zone, but in the end the purchaser was an investor.

Buyer’s agent Chris Waterman said that homes for sale in good school zones are both better attended and spend less time on the market.

And Michael Severn from Harcourts in Brighton estimated that a house within the Brighton zone attracts 15 to 20 per cent more potential buyers to inspect the property, but that often this additional interest does not translate into a higher price.

To complicate matters there are examples in Adelaide where a suburb’s median price actually increases outside zones for schools with good reputations.

Torrensville has a higher median price than Thebarton, and Nailsworth has a higher price than Prospect, even though both are outside the Adelaide High School zone.

One area that may provide answers in coming years is around Brighton Secondary School.

The school zone is expanding for 2015, taking in more than half of Warradale and a greater share of Brighton.

With music, volleyball and advanced academic programs, Brighton Secondary School enjoys one of the city’s best educational reputations.

And while agents are already marketing the zone’s benefits for houses in the expanded catchment, evidence of price growth in the area since the announcement was made in February is so far unconvincing.

In the three months to May 2014 Warradale house prices grew just 0.4 per cent, with Brighton up 1.1 per cent, both trailing the citywide growth of 1.3 per cent.

Brighton Secondary School Principal Olivia O’Neill said that out of zone entry through music, sport, academic excellence or low socio-economic status meant zoning was only one factor determining school entry.

However, she also said that some parents will do “everything they can” to get their kids into the school they want.

“They’ll look for short term rentals,” she said.

“They might move out of the zone, but we don’t necessarily find out.

“We still have people who fudge addresses.

“And we have families that really stretch themselves with the mortgage to get into the zone.”