Homes near top schools attract 29% premium: Savills – Mortgage Strategy

Homes near England’s top-performing secondary schools command an average price premium of 29%, but these locations have seen the weakest growth over the past decade, new research suggests.

Savills found that the average house price for constituencies with the top 10% GCSE results performance is £645,601, which is 29% higher than their respective regional average.

However, these areas have recorded the weakest house price growth over the past decade.

Average prices in the top 10% of constituencies have risen by 30% over the past 10 years, compared with growth of 50% in the bottom 10%.

As a result, the premium attached to homes in the best-performing school areas has narrowed from 33% a decade ago to 29% today.

Savills says this partly reflects the concentration of high-performing schools in London and the South East, where house price growth has been weaker, as well as wider pressure on higher-value properties.

By comparison, homes in the bottom 10% of constituencies for secondary school performance have an average value of £253,497, 20% below their regional average.

Savills analysed house prices and secondary school performance across 543 English parliamentary constituencies, using schools’ average GCSE scores over the past three years.

Richmond Park topped the school performance rankings over the past three years.

The constituency has an average house price of just under £1.06m, 54% above the London average.

It was followed by Altrincham and Sale West, where the average house price is £557,947, 111% above the North West average and Chipping Barnet, where the average of £708,773 is 3% above the London average.

Savills head of residential research Lucian Cook says: “Families continue to pay a significant premium for homes in areas with the strongest-performing secondary schools, particularly for detached houses suited to a longer-term family move.

“But weaker price growth in these higher-value markets is beginning to reshape the results. While homes in the strongest-performing areas remain significantly more expensive, their premium over the regional average has narrowed over the past decade.

“Higher mortgage rates have made it more difficult for households to buy in many of these areas. 

“On the one hand that has suppressed prices. But it has increased the monthly cost of living in areas with access to good state schools, for families with a mortgage.”