School catchment zones have become an increasing concern for Melbourne buyers as the city’s population continues to balloon and place further pressure on enrolment limits.

And it is now getting even tougher for Melbourne parents to afford to get their children within certain zones, with the city leading the country in terms of house price growth per school catchment.

Some popular schools zones have outpaced city-wide averages by more than double, an analysis of the top school zones for price growth across Australia has shown.

A mix of high, mid and lower priced neighbourhoods listed in the Domain Annual school zones report shows parents in all parts of the city are facing the dilemma of being priced out of certain catchments.

Melbourne schools took out the top five places in a national list comparing growth in secondary school catchments, while five primary schools also made the cut.

The ever-popular University High School, which is set to triple its boundary in size thanks to a state government announcement last October, was the second fastest growing catchment zone in Australia. The Parkville college boasted an annual growth of 23.7 per cent — for context, Melbourne as a whole grew by 10.3 per cent over 2016.

Jellis Craig director Rob Elsom said the number one question asked in his North Melbourne office was whether a property was within the University High zone.

“I’ve known buyers that have literally moved from one side of the street to the other just to get into the zone,” Mr Elsom said. “University High also has a strong reputation within the Australian Chinese community and overseas.”

Buyers were so keen on getting within the borders, they are happily forgoing other family priorities such as a backyard or a car space, he said. His listing within the zone at 15A Lothian Street, North Melbourne, due to go to auction Saturday, even has families considering converting the garage into a fourth bedroom.

“What a school zone really does is add to the appeal and, ultimately, add more prospective buyers into the mix,” Mr Elsom said.

The data derived annual growth figures from sales within the state government’s catchment boundaries between November 2015 to October 2016.

“The idea of the whole report was actually to have a look at price growth from a different perspective, because traditionally we always look at price growth in regions based on suburbs,” Domain Group chief data scientist Nicola Powell said.

Melbourne featured so heavily on the list because it was outpacing the country in terms of house price and population growth, Dr Powell said.

The catchment zones were not the only factor playing into strong growth in these areas, she said, and — like all property price data — the figures could be skewed by a period of higher priced sales in the area.

The leading high school in the country, Macleod’s Charles La Trobe Secondary College, was likely affected by the strong year of growth in the once budget-friendly suburb.

Barry Plant Ivanhoe director Kieran Whaley said Viewbank College was the most sought school in the area and believed those that couldn’t afford to buy within that zone may be choosing to buy within the Charles La Trobe zone instead.

Some boundaries overlapped, Dr Powell said, meaning sales could be counted towards growth in multiple zones. Some popular zones may not have been included because the data included those with a minimum of 20 sales.

Source: The age

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