- Demand for houses in top school zones remains strong, with buyers paying premiums for in-zone properties.
- Property values vary, with some zones experiencing hefty premiums and others seeing declining prices.
- Auckland’s Western Springs College has the highest zone premium, with in-zone homes $781,000 more expensive.
The country’s obsession with school zones is not going away.
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The “mind-blowing” demand for houses in suburbs that offer a direct ticket into the country’s most popular public schools is as strong as ever.
Some buyers are willing to pay a hefty premium to live in-zone for the best schools. Those who can’t stump up rely on out-of-zone ballots, the results of which are released between July and September. Disappointment inevitably follows for many, which is why real estate agents often find themselves fielding calls from desperate parents looking for property options that will allow their sons or daughters to attend their desired school.
The surge in enquiries comes as OneRoof and its data partner examined property values in the country’s top school zones and suburbs. The analysis found hefty premiums in some and declining prices in others.
The study used as its starting point a recently released list of New Zealand’s best schools, by education consultants Crimson Education.
Top of Crimson Education’s list of the Top 50 New Zealand High Schools for Gaining Admission to the World’s Top Universities was St Cuthbert’s College, a private girls’ school in Auckland’s Epsom, followed by two more private Auckland schools, ACG Parnell and Kirstin School.
Rangitoto College on Auckland’s North Shore and Auckland Grammar School are the only two state schools to make the top 10, but many other sought-after secondary schools, including Macleans College, Westlake Boys High, Epsom Grammar School, Westlake Girls High, Wellington College and Wellington Girls College, Selwyn College, Glendowie College, Mt Albert Grammar School, Long Bay College, Hamilton Boys’ High and Napier Girls’ High all make the top 50.
Of the 31 state and state-integrated schools on the list, eight were in zones or suburbs where the average property value was less than $1 million. King’s High School was bottom of Crimson’s list, but at the top of OneRoof’s list for affordability. The average property value in the school’s home suburb of South Dunedin (it does not have an enrolment zone) is $399,000.
The cheapest Auckland school for buyers is Long Bay College (No.41 on the Crimson list), on the North Shore, with the average property value of houses in the enrolment zone just $1.377m.
The most expensive state and state-integrated school for house buyers is St Mary’s College, in Ponsonby, where the average property value is $2.5m.
OneRoof and Valocity also examined the price difference between houses in zone and houses just out of zone. The school with the highest premium was Western Springs College, in Auckland. The average property value of houses in the school’s enrolment zone was $781,000 higher than just outside it.
Houses in the enrolment zones for 17 schools in the Crimson list were more expensive than those outside the zones. The premium for Auckland Grammar (No.9 on Crimson’s list) was $262,000, while the premium for the higher-ranked Rangitoto College (No.6) was a bit higher at $335,000.
The analysis also found that the Christchurch schools on the Crimson list were best for house price growth in the last five years, with the average property value in Strowan and Merivale, home to St. Andrew’s College, Rangi Ruru Girls’ School and St Margaret’s College, up by more than 39%. However, prices in Auckland’s double grammar zone were down by almost 8% over the same period, thanks to changes in stock - i.e. more townhouses - and falling values across Auckland as a whole.
Crimson Education chief executive Jamie Beaton told OneRoof that choosing the right high school was a priority for most parents.
“New Zealand is experiencing an unprecedented decline in educational achievement over the last decade, which threatens our social mobility, our ability to compete on the world stage and our future growth. Choosing a high school that is high performing is one of the best ways to enhance academic performance, get into top universities in New Zealand or abroad. Parents will naturally move anywhere for a strong education, especially families who have grown up in highly competitive education systems like China or India.”
Bayleys agent Steve Koerber told OneRoof that he had noticed a significant lift in enquiries for homes in Auckland’s prized double grammar zone since the ballot results were released.
Bayleys Remuera agent Steve Koerber says enquiries have lifted for homes in double grammar zone in recent weeks. Photo / Fiona Goodall
Many of the properties zoned for Auckland Grammar School and Epsom Girls Grammar are in the city’s most expensive suburbs, where the average property value of a family home is north of $2m.
That means the school zone premium is higher than some others. “I would say if you had the same house across the street and it wasn’t in grammar zone, it would be a $200,000 difference,” he told OneRoof.
Koerber is taking a four-bedroom house at 142A Upland Road to auction later this month. The property, which has an RV of $3.3m, sits at the edge of the double grammar zone border in Remuera (houses directly across the road are only zoned for Epsom Girls Grammar) and is considered an entry-level family home for the area.
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Barfoot & Thompson agent Rawdon Christie, who sells in the same patch as Koerber, said school zones were a major topic of conversation for vendors.
Last week, he met with a potential client whose son had attended Auckland Grammar School. She knew firsthand the pressure of securing an address before the school’s cut-off date for enrolment.
She was hoping to sell now and capitalise on that demand. “The conversation was, ‘If I don’t do it now, I’ve missed the boat come January’.”
Homeowners whose sons and daughters had graduated, and no longer needed to be in zone, could get a lot more bang for their buck outside it. Christie highlighted a five-bedroom, four-bathroom home with swimming pool he was selling on Mainston Road as an example. The property is still in Remuera but not in the double grammar zone.
Auckland Grammar ranks ninth in the Crimson Education list of top schools. House prices in the school’s catchment zone are among the priciest in the country. Photo / Greg Bowker
Christie expected it to attract people whose children had left school or those who had decided to send their kids to the nearby private schools instead. “They know they can have the finest family home but not pay the $5m it may cost in the heart of the double grammar zone.”
The school zone premium can be seen elsewhere in the city. Barfoot & Thompson agent Kitty Long noted the strong demand for family homes in the Macleans College catchment zone. The East Auckland school doesn’t accept out-of-zone applications from students who don’t have a family connection to the school, which has ramped up pressure in the market.
Long said that enquiries for homes in the Macleans zone had significantly increased in August and September, telling OneRoof that she recently sold a near-new home on Waller Avenue, in Bucklands Beach, for $200,000 more than its RV to a family who wanted to secure entry to the school.
House prices around Macleans College, in Auckland’s Bucklands Beach, have lifted on the back of stronger enquiries, according to local agents. Photo / Jason Oxhenham
A home on Waller Avenue, in Bucklands Beach, recently sold to a family wanting to be in zone for Macleans College. Photo / Supplied
She also noted rising demand for properties in zone for Botany Downs Secondary College, which draws in students from East Tamaki, Tamaki Heights and Dannemora.
She cited as an example the August sale of a do-up on Cellbridge Place, in East Tamaki. The property received a pre-offer auction of $1.1m within a week of hitting the market and sold for $1.301m to a young family who beat eight other bidders in the room. They told Long they bought it to be in zone for Botany Secondary.
Harcourts Cooper & Co auctioneer Andrew North said competition to get into North Shore’s top schools, which include Rangitoto College, Takapuna Grammar, Westlake Boys High and Westlake Girls High, was fierce, and that parents often bought in-zone long before their children hit high school age.
North said younger families often started in Beach Haven, before trading up to the likes of Forrest Hill, Milford, Campbells Bay, and Castor Bay for Westlake Boys or Westlake Girls and Mairangi Bay, Murrays Bay, Campbells Bay and Pinehill for Rangitoto College.
He noticed that most of the top schools on the Shore were “chocka”.
Westlake Boys’ rowing squad. The North Shore school is rated for its academic and sports programme. Homes in zone are highly prized. Photo / Photosport
Rangitoto College, for example, is at “absolute capacity”. The only Year 8 students it will accept for 2026 are those in the catchment zone. Even siblings of existing students will miss out, the school said on its website.
North did note that not everyone was stuck on the Shore’s public schools; some parents opted to send their kids to private schools – Kristin School, in Albany, was a popular choice – and buy in suburbs such as Dairy Flat, which offered a bit more bang for their buck. “You make a trade-off,” he said.
He pointed out that this was the case in some of Auckland’s most expensive suburbs. “If you look at Ponsonby and Herne Bay – a couple of pretty affluent suburbs – they are not even in decent school zones. But all of the private school buses go through there.”
Tommy’s salesperson Alice O’Styke said Wellington College and Wellington Girls’ College were top of the list for most parents in the capital.
The average property value of homes around Iona College, in Hawke’s Bay, is less than $1m. Photo / Supplied
Pupils at Christ’s College in Christchurch. Photo / Getty Images
O’Styke said families tended to look for three to four-bedroom character homes with good sized yards for the kids in Karori, Northland, Wilton, Wadestown and Kelburn because they were all in zone.
Karori offered the best value for families, with prices starting at mid-$900,000. Prices in Kelburn, on the other hand, started around $1.3m.
O’Styke said that Hataitai, where the average property value is just over $1.1m, was a popular suburb for parents who looked to send their children to private schools. “There has been a shift to private in some of those areas.”
In Christchurch, Harcourts Gold agent Lydia O’Loughlin said that property conversations in the city almost always involved schooling.
“It’s a conversation we have with buyers across all price points and locations in Christchurch. Families might be buying properties two or three years out before their children are ready for high school.”
O’Loughlin said parents had long prized homes in zone for Christchurch Boys’ High, Christchurch Girls’ High and Burnside High School, but were now looking further afield to Cashmere High, in the city’s southern fringe.
She said that properties in the catchment zone – which includes the suburbs of Somerfield, Cashmere, St Martins and West Melton – were attracting multiple bidders at auction, and open homes were busier than they had been.
“It’s really blows my mind,” she said.
Harcourts Holmwood agent Zani Polson said prices in the Cashmere catchment tended to be lower than those in the central city catchments for Christchurch Boys, Christchurch Girls and Burnside High, with buyers able to get in the door for around $800,000.
In Hamilton, agents said the results of the school ballots frequently led to more property searches in the city, but this year enquiries spiked.
Lodge agent Megan Smith told OneRoof that open home numbers in popular zones were up by a third while colleague Chase Gray said that the sports programme at Hamilton Boys High had made the school the top choice for a lot of parents in the city, even those who could afford private fees.
“Hamilton Boys High is one of the most credited rugby and cricket schools in the North Island. Everyone dreams their kid will be a great sports star.”
Gray noticed a lot of families seemed to rent small properties in zone before moving back to their main home. Some also bought cheaper properties, between $750,000 and $850,000, for their address during high school before turning them into investment properties.
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