Good Local Schools Can Put House Prices up by £12,000

Parents are willing to pay more money to buy or rent a property in a good school catchment area, according to new research.

Around a third of buyers and renters with children aged 10 or less rate moving in to a good catchment area as a priority.

Home buyers with children aged over 10 years old will pay an average £5,663 more for a house near a good school than for a similar house somewhere else.

Property investors – especially in the West Midlands and North East – should consider the pull of local schools when buying to rent or sell to gain a premium on the house price, says Santander Mortgages.

Santander Mortgages director Phil Cliff said: “People are increasingly concerned about the value of a good education, and in some areas of the country, there is a significant amount of competition for places at sought-after schools. This has led to many parents trying to move to a particular area deliberately to improve their child’s chances of getting into their desired school.

“Some in-demand property features such as being located within the catchment area of a good school can increase the property value considerably.”

A quarter of parents with secondary school aged children who plan to buy a new home in the next five years claim moving to a neighbourhood with a good school is a ‘major concern’, while 15% of families with younger children looking to move tag good schools as a ‘main priority’.

Many of these families rate school choice as so important that they value homes in good catchment areas as worth up to £12,000 more than an identical house outside the catchment area.

For landlords, this means a significant passive profit on selling or letting a property coveted by a family with school-age children.

Property investors can find information about schools on the Direct Gov web site.