TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore and quantify the impact of geographically defined school zones on house prices in New Zealand.Design/methodology/approach– This paper develops a series of hedonic pricing models to analyse 10,000 house sales transactions over a 21‐year period within a compact group of inner Auckland suburbs, which represents the epicentre of the school zoning debate in New Zealand. The study diverts from past research, which mainly focuses on school quality measures such as standardised test scores, and instead analyses the comprehensive price impacts of access to popular state schools. Its unique approach employs a geographic information system to divide the study area into effective school zones and then further subdivide into suburbs, thus offering a vital indicator of internal validity.Findings– The study's findings indicate that the influence of school zoning on house prices is not uniform and the variation in price effects is largely a function of the uncertainty of future zone boundary definitions. Although some “in‐zone” suburbs have enjoyed accelerated house price growth following the reintroduction of zoning in 2000, peripheral suburbs’ price premiums have diminished.Originality/value– In contrast to standard hedonic studies on school quality, this paper offers an innovative approach that integrates geography to solve what is essentially a spatial economic problem.
VL  - 1
IS  - 4
SN  - 1753-8270
DO  - 10.1108/17538270810908623
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/17538270810908623
AU  - Rehm Michael
AU  - Filippova Olga
PY  - 2008
Y1  - 2008/01/01
TI  - The impact of geographically defined school zones on house prices in New Zealand
T2  - International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 313
EP  - 336
Y2  - 2024/04/25
ER  -