Coveted school zones ramp up property prices

Monday, 22 January 2024

Robin Berthault just moved from Roxburgh to Spreydon so her two sons could attend Cashmere High School.

Houses in desirable school zones are becoming so sought after one Christchurch real estate agent is fielding requests for properties from buyers around the world.

And while the cost difference - often into the hundreds of thousands - is enough to put a child through private college, parents appear undeterred.

A real estate agent told The Press she receives requests from many overseas locations for houses specifically in Cashmere High School’s zone.

The school is self-funding new classrooms as it faces record in-zone enrolments. This comes despite efforts to reduce student numbers by twice shrinking its zone in recent years and ruling out any out-of-zone enrolments.

Amongst the many parents to move into the Cashmere High zone is Robin Berthault, still unpacking boxes in her new Spreydon family home.

Berthault paid $837,000 for her new home, but could have got a better deal in a different school zone.

“We’ve moved our life from Central Otago to Christchurch for schooling,” she said.

By moving in-zone the mother has locked in spots at Cashmere High School for her sons, aged 10 and 15. Back home, the tiny Roxburgh Area School was the closest option.

Berthault said she “didn’t look at houses outside of Cashmere’s zone”, aware of the school’s reputation and hearing only good things from friends in the area.

The four-bedroom, two bathroom, 825m2 house sold for nearly $850,000.

Candice Toughey is the Branch Manager at Harcourts Grenadier Cashmere. And she confirms that properties in sought after school zones sell for more.

“If we had gone into other areas we definitely could have got something way newer with way more land, but at the end of the day education was the focus.”

Harcourts Cashmere branch manager Candice Toughey said properties in some popular zones often sold for an additional $100,000 to $150,000.

The houses were generally valued higher and there were “always multiple people looking at each property” so they often went to auction, she said.

Her branch is well aware of Cashmere High School’s immense popularity.

Cashmere High School’s zone also extends around Diamond Harbour and Port Levy.

“We’ll have an Auckland buyer or a Wellington buyer getting in touch - they particularly say ‘we want to buy in the Cashmere High School zone’.”

She said people from as far as Melbourne and Dubai had contacted her seeking homes in the zone.

To illustrate the Cashmere zone’s popularity, Toughey identified two comparable three-bedroom, one bathroom properties in similar suburbs on opposite sides of the city - Casebrook and Somerfield.

The Casebrook house, in the Papanui High School zone, sold for $765,000 in December, while the Somerfield house in Cashmere’s zone sold for $903k in November.

Properties in Christchurch Boys’, Christchurch Girls’ and Burnside High School’s zones likewise saw jumps in price, she said.

Property investment company JLL New Zealand director Michael Tohill said properties in Christchurch Girls’ and Christchurch Boys’ zones could be boosted in value by as much as $250,000.

Cashmere High School no longer takes pupils from out of zone.

The number was steeper for those zones due to a higher land value component and the traditional legacies of the schools, Tohill said.

“Girls’ High, Boys’ High are pretty hard to get in off the ballot these days … a lot of people buy in-zone to get their kids in.”

The competition to get in-zone also pushed up rental value, he said, as people tried every avenue possible.

Cashmere High School principal Joe Eccleton said the school no longer accepted out-of-zone students due to the high in-zone demand.

Cashmere High School’s roll has gained nearly 500 students over the past decade, peaking at 2217 last year despite shrinking its zone in 2019 and 2021.

Cashmere principal Joe Eccleton said in recent years the school had stopped accepting out-of-zone students due to huge in-zone demand.

Cashmere High School will need Ministry of Education support if its roll continues to grow, principal Joe Eccleton said.

“We’ve got more housing densification in our zone, more subdivisions in our zone, more people just moving into our zone - and it's putting pressure on spaces at school.

“One of our challenges is to ensure that we can cater to all those students in our zone and ensuring we have the physical spaces for them.”

Eccleton said with a spike in families moving in-zone last year the school could only cater to its current roll count with extra classrooms funded by the Board of Trustees.

“In a sense we are a victim of our own success,” Eccleton said, attributing the demand to their positive NCEA results, extra curricular opportunities and supportive community.

Should the upward roll trend continue the Ministry of Education would need to come to the table, he said.