Parents can now pay up to £77,000 extra to buy a home in the catchment area of a top performing state school, according to research from PrimeLocation.com.
Property prices within the catchment areas of the country’s top 50 state schools are 35% higher than the rest of the UK and the most expensive catchment area among Britain’s top 10 state schools is around The Henrietta Barnett School in Barnet, London, where the average house price is £655,429.
Other state schools at the top of the house price league include St Olave’s and St Saviour’s Grammar in Orpington, Kent – ranked as the second best state school in the UK – as well as tenth-placed Queen Elizabeth’s School in north London, which both saw average asking prices within the catchment area exceed twice the national average.
Overall, the average asking price of a house near one of Britain’s top 50 state schools is currently £298,378 – 35% higher than the UK average price of £221,110. And for those unable to buy, the average monthly rent of £944 is 7.8% higher than the UK as a whole.
However, the highest ranked state school in the UK, Bishop Wordsworth’s Grammar School in Salisbury, has lower average asking prices of £286,112.
Six of the top 50 schools have local rental costs above £1,500, with rental prices near Beaconsfield High School commanding the greatest premiums, of £2,458 per month on average.
Nigel Lewis, property analyst at PrimeLocation.com, said: “For many years now the challenges of the catchment area-based lottery for state schools have vexed millions of parents across the UK – and our research highlights how much it can cost to get your child into the ideal school.
