After receiving feedback from property agents across South-East Queensland, we are happy to announce that our reports now include school catchments!
But why is this information important for home buyers?
This week, we dig a little further to spotlight school catchments and answer some common questions.
A school catchment area is a zone which assigns children from within that area to make up the core intake at a local school. This ensures that every student from Prep to Grade 12 can access public education close to where they live, where each school reserves enough enrollment space for students residing in their local area each year.
Whilst it is not guaranteed that certain suburb values will grow due to locality to a ‘good school’, data trends from previous years show that property percentage growth prices in the catchment of high performing public schools were generally higher than the average percentage city growth.
Both owner occupiers and investors purchase homes in good school catchments for several reasons. These include:
- Many parents are prepared to pay high premiums for property in a good catchment area so their children can attend high-performing schools over paying for private school fees.
- Many homes within top school zones have seen increase in capital growth due to market demand and are likely to maintain price growth long-term.
- Investment properties within sought after catchment areas are highly attractive to potential tenants, with many families opting to rent instead of purchasing.
School catchment boundaries can change due to various factors such as whether the school reaches enrolment capacity, opening/closing, changing demographics etc. If you have a young family, it is wise to double check the school catchment zone before signing the contract.
There have also been cases where siblings have been unable to enrol in the same school as older brothers or sisters due to catchment area changes, which become a massive inconvenience for parents. If you are planning on purchasing a home with intention to enrol your child/children to a preferred public school, it is recommended that you buy a property as close to the school as possible to avoid being rezoned into another catchment.
If you do not live within your desired catchment area, you are still able to apply for enrolment -however a place is not guaranteed, and you may be placed on a waiting list.