Premium exists to live near top state schools

The latest crop of GCSE students across England and Wales may still be facing up to the fact that results were unfair and unrepresentative of how they performed, but such statistical worries have yet to stop many parents using these as a reason to move to a certain area of the country.

In fact, so many people are trying to purchase properties for sale in areas where there are high-performing state schools that many of the regions have seen rocketing house prices as demand drives premiums upwards.

A new study which has been carried out by Lloyds TSB has discovered that the average cost of a home near one of the country's leading state schools is now nine times the average British wage.

On top of this, the report said that people who are moving to these areas are facing a huge premium for doing so.

By moving to get their kids into a catchment area of a good school, parents are paying an average of almost £34,000 more than in neighbouring towns in the same county.
Prices in these areas are a full 29 per cent higher than the average cost of a home in the UK.

Amazingly, however, parents who are seeing this as worthwhile are failing to note that what they pay is almost three times the average amount that they would pay to have their child educated privately at a different school.

Suren Thiru, housing economist, Lloyds TSB said: "The presence of a good school appears to help support property values in many of these locations as parents compete with other buyers and investors to land the property that gives their child the best possible chance to attend their chosen school.

"The downside of high property values in many of these areas is that it can create a financial barrier to attending the best non-fee paying schools, with many lower and middle income families finding it very difficult to purchase a home in these locations."