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The Mansfield State High School auditorium packs out three times a year, but many of those present are not parents of students at the sought-after public school – at least, not yet.
Brisbane real estate is cut into just under 200 suburbs, but perhaps more importantly into about 60 high school and 130 primary school catchments.
Data from online real estate marketplace Domain revealed the Mansfield catchment was comfortably the most searched catchment in Queensland.
Ray White Mount Gravatt principal and auctioneer Grant Boman said between 600 and 700 people typically packed out the thrice-yearly auctions delivered through the agency’s sponsorship of the school.
“That’s obviously growing year-on-year, and that’s because of the wonderful results of the school,” Boman said.
“It’s the desire of parents to move to an area where they know that they’re going to get a high-quality education for their kids.”
He said a home listed within the Mansfield State High catchment could garner up to 25 per cent more interest from that fact alone.
Just under 90 per cent of students living in the catchment attend Mansfield, equating to more than 3800 students at the school.
Just more than 560 year 12 students graduated in 2025, of which three achieved an ATAR of 99.95.
The school is also above its capacity, with the 2025 cohort exceeding the school’s stated maximum capacity by 17 per cent.
Boman said the number of homes available in the school’s catchment was still growing as new areas developed, but turnover was extremely low.
“If you look up Wishart and Mansfield, which are predominantly centred in most of the catchment, those are some of the longest-tenured suburbs in all of Brisbane,” Boman said.
“It is because people buy, and if you’ve got two kids, you’re there for 15 years.”
While Domain could not disclose exact search numbers due to customer privacy, Mansfield State High pulled in more than three times the number of searches as second-place school Kelvin Grove State College.
The inner-city college teaches Prep to year 12, and was followed closely by Brisbane State High School, which had the third-highest number of searches in 2025.
Domain chief of research and economics Nicola Powell said more sought-after state schools often placed a “price premium” on the area, and in some cases, catchments neighbouring these tightly held areas actually dropped in value.
For schools offering out-of-catchment enrolments through selective-entry programs, such as the Queensland Academy of Science, Mathematics, and Technology – coming in ninth – and Brisbane State High, Powell said location still mattered.
“What that tells us is buyers are prioritising an ease of life – there’s no way you would be wanting to live all the way over the other side of town, and commute every day to drop your child off to school,” she said.
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