Add CategoryFamilies are ditching private schools and forking out hundreds of thousands of dollars to secure homes inside Melbourne’s best public school catchments instead.
Top-quality school zones are attracting premium property prices almost half a million dollars more than homes just 1km from the border, exclusive Real Estate Institute of Victoria data has revealed.
Houses zoned to the revamped Albert Park College boast a $1.75m median price – a whopping $495,000 mark-up on property prices outside the catchment.
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Albert Park College has the highest school zone property premium in Melbourne. Picture: David Caird
Beaumaris Secondary College and Glen Waverley Secondary College zones had house price premiums of $430,000 and $380,000, while Balwyn High, Box Hill High and Melbourne Girls College also had inflated property prices.
REIV president Leah Calnan said Melbourne families were investing in areas with quality public school rather than funnelling money into the city’s most expensive education options.
“They’re weighing up the cost of putting children through private schools for more than $20,000 a year, or investing in buying opportunities in good zones instead,” Ms Calnan said.
“It’s creating demand for both primary and secondary schools, with newer catchments in Beaumaris and Albert Park following the trends we’ve seen in Balwyn, McKinnon and Glen Waverley.
“Time has proven that house prices in these zones have never gone down.”
REIV President Leah Calnan.
Balwyn High School’s zone has consistently produced inflated property prices.
Four-year-old Beaumaris Secondary College has boosted demand for the suburb.
Greg Hocking Holdsworth director Simon Gowling said he had noticed growing demand for Albert Park College.
“Word has gotten out that it has a really good reputation and a lot of families have decided they won’t worry about private school and save tens of thousands of dollars a year instead,” Mr Gowling said.
“Whether a house is in the school zone is a question we get asked a lot, which we didn’t get before … it’s a big factor for buyers and it’s naturally pushing the price up.”
37 Albert Street, Port Melbourne, is for sale in the Albert Park College zone.
Mr Gowling said there was growing popularity from families for the area.
He said his Port Melbourne vendors Nancy and Ian, who did not disclose their surname, were enjoying high demand for their family home in the zone.
The couple said they were staying in the area to keep their children at the college.
“We’d often thought about leaving Port Melbourne, but we can never actually go because sending our own kids to this school makes so much sense,” Ian said.
“There are not many four-bedroom homes with a double garage in the area, which I think will attract a lot of families.”
Ian and Nancy at their Port Melbourne home for sale with their family. Picture: Tim Carrafa
In Melbourne’s southeast, property prices were already rising wit anticipation of a second McKinnon Secondary College campus.
Buxton Bentleigh director Chris Hassall said houses zoned to the new school facility, which is due to open in 2022, were already flooded with demand and selling well above price expectations.
“Parts of Bentleigh East, Murrumbeena and Carnegie were caught completely off-guard by the good news,” Mr Hassall said.
“Developers are also looking to capitalise on big blocks where they can build townhouses for families, while investors are also buying rental properties that suit families too.”
12 Fisher Court, Bentleigh East, is in the new McKinnon Secondary campus zone.
TOP SCHOOL ZONE PREMIUMS
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Albert Park College: $1.75m median house price in zone vs. $1.255m in 1km border = $495,000 difference
Beaumaris Secondary College: $1.68m vs. $1.25m = $430,000 difference
Glen Waverley Secondary College: $1.615m vs. $1.235m = $380,000 difference
Balwyn High School: $2,005,500 vs. $1,807,500 = $198,000 difference
Box Hill High School: $1,410,500 vs. $1,217,500 = $193,000 difference
McKinnon Secondary College: $1,582,500 vs. $1.415m = $167,500 difference
Prahran High School: $1.72m vs. $1.573m = $147,000 difference
Camberwell High School: $2.168m vs. $2.075m = $93,000 difference
East Doncaster Secondary College: $1.303m vs. $1.22m = $83,000 difference
Mount Waverley Secondary College: $1.275m vs. $1.2m = $75,000 difference
Frankston High School: $785,000 vs. $720,000 = $65,000 difference
Mill Park Secondary College: $690,500 vs. $652,500 = $38,000 difference
Melbourne Girls’ College (Richmond): $1.85m vs. $1.82m = $30,000 difference
Mordialloc College: $1m vs. $988,000 = $12,000 difference
Source: REIV, for year to December 20
Only houses with two or more bedrooms included
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