Tuesday 29 October 2013

House Prices Near Top 30 State Schools are '12% Higher'

This article by Harriet Meyer of theguardian on October 27th, 2013 reveals that third of properties close to the top state schools command a premium of more than £80,000 according to the survey by Lloyds.

Pupils at King Edward VI School Handsworth sitting an exam
House prices near the best state schools, such as King Edward VI School Handsworth, attract a premium of more than £30,000, says Lloyds. Photograph: Andrew Fox/Alamy
 
Parents are paying "premiums" of on average £31,500 for a home in an area with one of the UK's leading state schools, according to resarch from Lloyds.

The findings are are likely to reignite the controversy surrounding schools selecting by parents' ability to afford to live somewhere.

Property prices within postcodes with the top 30 sought-after secondary state schools are 12% higher than the average price in the rest of the county, at an average of £295,972, or almost nine times average annual earnings for a full-time male employee at £33,740.

Properties close to the top state schools command a housing premium of more than £80,000 in almost a third of cases.

The north-west has the largest premium, with average house prices in the postcode of the top 10 state schools in the region trading 28% – or £43,142 – above the average house price in their county.

This is followed by Yorkshire and the Humber, with a premium of 18%, and London at 15%. In contrast, house prices in the East Midlands that are close to the best performing state schools are on average 6% lower than in neighbouring locations.

The most expensive catchment area of a state school in Britain is that of the Henrietta Barnett all-girls grammar school in Barnet, north-west London, where the average house price trades at a premium of 87% or an average of £402,600.

Homes within the postal district of Tiffin girls' school and Tiffin school in Kingston-upon-Thames commanded the second highest premium, with house prices in the KT2 postcode trading at more than double the average for the borough at £207,591.

However, more than a third of England's top 30 state schools are in locations where the average property price is less than the average of those in neighbouring areas. With an average price of £94,843, properties in the catchment of King Edward VI Handsworth school in Birmingham, B21, for instance, are 42% or £67,738 below the county average.

Meanwhile, prices in the surrounding area to Kendrick school and Reading school were £108,033 lower than the county average.

The research is based on average asking prices in June 2013 and GCSE results taken from 2012.

Nitesh Patel, housing economist for Lloyds Bank, said: "All parents want to ensure their children have access to the best schools, so it is not surprising that homes in areas close to the top performing state schools typically command a significant premium over neighbouring areas.

"However, with the availability of suitable homes in short supply, high demand has led to average prices in many of these areas being out of reach for many buyers on average earnings."

Article Source: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/oct/27/house-prices-state-schools-higher

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