Despite that, Ascham has been on an acquisition spree. In the six months to March records show the school paid $18.24 million to buy five of six apartments in the art deco block next door, leaving one outstanding apartment.
Of a row of three retail outlets that front the school to New South Head Road, one was purchased in 2019 and another last year for $5.25 million, leaving the third in the hands of Hong Kong’s Ho family.
Ascham now owns two of three retail outlets that front New South Head Road, with the Ho family retaining the one beside the school’s main entry gate since 1989.Credit:Janie Barrett
“When you list a house that’s near a school the first buyer you take it to is the school,” said Alexander Phillips, of PPD, who last year sold a Victorian Italian mansion called Villa Palmyra for $5.25 million to St Catherine’s in Waverley.
A spokeswoman for St Catherine’s said they are still considering what to do with the grand 1888-built residence, but purchased it because land is limited and buildings close by are useful for non-teaching purposes like administration and uniform shops.
Phillips said St Catherine’s paid market value for Villa Palmyra, but that schools often end up paying over.
Lewisham’s recent sale of a freestanding house on 650 square meters for $4.2 million shocked local property watchers, until settlement revealed the buyer was the Christian Brothers’ Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia.
Ascham has bought five of six apartments in an art deco block (left), SCEGGS Darlinghust bought a corner terrace, and St Catherine’s bought Villa Palmyra (right).Credit:
“Nothing has sold for more than $4 million in Lewisham outside the grand Victorian homes on The Boulevarde,” said Shad Hassan, director of The Agency Inner West.
“People who own next door to these sorts of schools usually know what they’ve got and are hanging out for these sorts of deals.”
A pink corner terrace in Darlinghurst was recently bought by one of the state’s most expensive schools, SCEGGS Darlinghurst, for $2.925 million for use as a wellbeing hub and to accommodate school counsellors.
Head of school Jenny Allum announced the purchase in the June school newsletter: “As a property with an entrance and driveway in St Peters Street, we have long considered this one of the most strategic properties around us.”
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In Mosman, Queenwood forked out $8.4 million to buy a period house next door to its Balmoral Beach grounds, and Mosman Preparatory bought a Federation house for $4.4 million, funded in part by the sale of a house two doors up for $3.21 million.
Barker College, a co-education Anglican school set on 15 hectares on the upper north shore, bought two retail spaces next door for $3.63 million and $2.5 million.
“There are no current plans to use the properties recently acquired for teaching,” said head of Barker College Phillip Heath, although one is being considered as space for staff.
Newington College’s Stanmore campus is set on 10 hectares in the inner west, a footprint that has been increasing since the mid-1990s, when the school started amassing 15 of the 19 homes that back onto it on Middleton Street, of which the most recent was a rundown bungalow in April for $2.175 million.
But it isn’t just Sydney’s most expensive schools looking to expand. Muslim co-education school Al Sadiq, where school fees start at $2400, recently bought a three-bedroom weatherboard house for $1.25 million adjoining its Greenacre campus.
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And the Bankstown campus of Islamic Al Amanah College has bought five of its neighboring properties in the past decade, of which the most recent was a block of land for $1.5 million.
Hopes are already high that Al Amanah will add a sixth to its parcel on August 20 when a four-bedroom house next door goes to auction with a $1.1 million guide, given Pace Property’s Luke McFadden said the school had already flagged its interest.