The price you’ll pay to live in a top school zone
Auckland prices in most desired zone rise by 35 per cent in first three months
Property prices in top Auckland school zones have risen as much as 35 per cent and revelations some schools could stop out-of-zone applications will only keep driving up prices in already expensive school zones, an industry body warns.
Bindi Norwell, chief executive at the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, was concerned that the pressure on prices in popular school zones would exacerbate unaffordability issues.
“As Auckland continues to experience unprecedented population growth, we understand that ending out-of-zone applications may be a necessity given the growth schools are facing.
“However, given the upwards pressure on prices of buying in a popular school zone, our concern is that this will place even more pressure on some of those areas, further adding to unaffordability issues for people to send their children to some of these popular schools.”
Norwell said there was usually a premium for schools in the “so-called good school zones”, something that was evident when comparing sales in different areas.
In four school zone areas, the median property price increased faster than that of the Auckland regional median (21.4 per cent) in the three months to March compared with figures from the three months to March 2015.
The Rangitoto College School Zone led the way with a 35.2 per cent increase in median property price, followed by Western Springs College School Zone (up 30.2 per cent), Glendowie College School Zone (up 28.3 per cent) and Mt Albert Grammar School Zone (up 23.7 per cent).
“These figures show just how popular some of these school zones are — especially those that have a good proximity to the Auckland CBD and are close to transport links [and] infrastructure.
“Auckland’s traffic has become of increasing importance and many buyers would rather pay a premium for location to save time on travel to the city. They’re also prepared to sacrifice views for a quicker commute time,” Norwell noted.
School zoning already plays a huge part in property purchasing decisions of parents with school-aged children.
Last year Aucklander Xuesen Liu had his complaint to the Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal upheld after claiming real estate agent Maxwell Parore had misled him about a Grafton property marketed as being in the Epsom Girls’ Grammar school zone when it wasn’t.
On settlement day, January 18, 2016, Liu’s solicitor advised the vendor’s solicitor that he wished to cancel the sale contract on the grounds that contrary to representations made by Parore, the property was not in the school’s zone.
After some negotiation, the vendor accepted the cancellation and Liu’s deposit was refunded. Liu, however, was still charged $3400 by his solicitor for cancelling of the sale contract and Parore was ordered to reimburse that amount by the tribunal.
In its decision, the committee made an order censuring Parore after finding that he had engaged in unsatisfactory conduct, though through a lapse of judgment and a human error rather than a lack of knowledge of real estate process and protocols of the Real Estate Agents Act.