Living close to an 'outstanding' school adds £44k to house prices

How much extra would you be prepared to pay to give your child a good chance at getting into the best local school? 

Families in England are paying a house price premium of almost £44,000 on average to make sure their children live within the catchment of primary schools rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, new analysis suggests.

The added cost of these top-performing school catchment areas was compared to the average property price of the rest of the postcode in which the school is situated.

The figures are based on research into the catchment areas of 50 state-funded English primary schools conducted by slot online estate agent HouseSimple.com using Zoopla sold price data.

It found that homes in the streets closest to these sought-after school are 18 per cent higher than average property prices for the rest of the area.

However that premium rises to 45 per cent in the catchment area of St Luke’s Primary School in Brighton and Hove, adding just over £150,000 to the average house price.The average price for the postcode is £334,692 but homes within the catchment cost £485,813 on average.  

In fact, HouseSimple found that more than half of the highest premiums to be close to an outstanding school are for homes located in the South of England. 

Other than St Luke’s, Crowland Primary School in the London borough of Haringey and Bodriggy School in Cornwall commands the next biggest premiums, at 45 and just under 44 per cent respectively.Staggeringly, the Crowland catchment adds almost £200,000 onto the average house price of £442,017 and take to average price of streets close to the school to £635,833. 

The table below shows the highest average percentage premium paid to purchase a property in the catchment area of an outstanding primary school. 

Some families are spared the burden of having to pay over the odds for a home close to a stop school.Properties close to The Mayflower Primary School in Essex, Henry Cavendish Primary School in the London borough of Lambeth, Highfields Primary School in Leicester and Elmore Green Primary School in Walsall have all recently sold for less than the average house price across the rest of their respective postcodes.

And the smallest premium to be found was for homes close to the ‘outstanding’ Orleans Primary School in Richmond upon Thames – at just 1.23 per cent.Though these homes still recently sold for an eye-watering £755,392.

Alex Gosling, chief executive of HouseSimple.com, said: ‘One of the most valuable gifts we can give our children is a good education, and many parents will go to great lengths to get their children a place at the best local state-funded primary school.But there is a price to pay for the best free schooling.

‘Private education is out of reach for many families, which is why there is high demand for places at top-rated state primary schools. But there aren’t enough places to go around, which has led property prices in the catchment areas of popular primary schools to rocket in recent years.

​’Attending an outstanding state school can offer an education as good as, if not better, than paying to go private, but with property prices close to the best state schools commanding average premiums of 18 per cent, paying the price to live close by certainly doesn’t equate to a free education.’