If you’re thinking of buying a new home for your family, finding a property in the catchment area of a good state school is likely to be one of your main concerns. Now, new research has found that parents are prepared to pay a premium of almost 22 per cent to buy a property close to a good school.
Keep reading to find out more about the lengths parents will go to get their children into a top state school.
You can still be close to a good school without having to buy a very expensive house
Janette Wallis of The Good Schools Guide, produced in conjunction with Savills Research, said: There has been a 50 per cent increase in requests for state schools since the recession began in 2007.
This has partly been driven by concern about university entrance because universities are being encouraged to look more carefully at state school applicants. Our aim is to help parents find a school that they would move house to be near.
The guide drew up a list of 35 of the best schools across the country. They then matched these with postcode house price data which was then compared with the surrounding county to work out the premium paid for houses in that postcode area.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the surprise finding is that there are new areas where state secondary schools are performing outstandingly well but where house prices have not yet been inflated by the arrival of middle-class buyers with bigger budgets.
This is an interesting phenomenon which we have noticed recently, caused partly by an increased emphasis on creating good academies in areas which were struggling, says Janette. We now have parents considering schools in poorer neighbourhoods where the results are good, which they would never have done before.
Sophie Chick of Savills Research, who worked on the house-price data, added: Private schools tend to be set up in wealthy zones, so buyers are prepared to pay a premium to live close to them and pay the fees.
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