Mortgages
What price would you pay to live near a top school?
Parents are willing to pay an average of £53,000 more to live in area that is close to a top performing school, an increase of £13,000 (31%) from last year, according to new research by Lloyds Bank.
In the postal districts of the top 30 state schools in England which achieved, the strongest GCSE results in 2015, average property prices have reached £366,744, with homes typically trading at a premium of £53,426 – or 17% – compared with the average of £313,318.
Indeed the postal districts of the top six of the top 30 schools commanded a house price premium in excess of £150,000 compared with their surrounding areas.
“Schools with the best exam performance are proving to be an increasingly strong draw for homeowners, as we’ve seen house prices rise sharply in locations close to such schools,” says Andrew Mason, a mortgage products director at Lloyds Bank.
“Our analysis shows that since 2011 average house prices in areas with the best state schools have increased by £76,000, comforted with a national increase of £42,145,” he adds. “And seven of the areas covered in this survey have seen house prices rise by over £100,000 in the last five years.”
Properties in the the postal district of Beaconsfield High School have the highest premium, with homes trading at £629,021 (171%) above the county home average price (£367,191), at almost £1m.
Meanwhile in the postal district of the Henrietta Barnett School in Barnet (NW11), the average price has grown by £234,386 in the past five years – the highest price in cash terms – to £1,011,016. Over half of the areas in the top 30 saw average house prices grow by at least £50,000 since 2011.
