Properties near good schools have always attracted a premium but, as catchment areas tighten, prices are rising fast.
Moving into the catchment area of a good school is a top priority for parents with children under ten – and the demand is forcing prices up.
Savills’ Clive Moon is based in Wimbledon, where, he says, top performing schools have pushed up the price of nearby homes.
‘In West Wimbledon it has been the catalyst behind a 20 to 25 per cent rise in house prices over the past three to four years,’ he says.
Moon says increasing numbers of families are leaving the capital in search of better value for money –and good schools. They tend to head to the Home Counties and key commuter towns across Surrey, Berkshire and Kent.
For those who choose to stay in the capital, getting little Jack and Emily into a good secondary school doesn’t come cheap. Families wanting to live near London’s top 100 schools have to cough up an average 34 per cent more than for homes elsewhere in the same boroughs, according to The Good Schools Guide.
Developers find good schools attract buyers. Berkeley Homes’ Sandlands Park is a new development of two, three, four and five-bed detached houses in Surrey’s Walton-on-the-Hill. Prices start at £550,000.
One of the draws is the commute to London Bridge, which is under an hour, but the local schools more often than not clinch the deal for buyers. State primary schools Walton-on-the-Hill and Bramley are both rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, as is nearby secondary Epsom College.
Berkeley’s head of sales Ben Annetts says: ‘I’ve got two young children and I know how important education is. Good schools are right up there above commuting.’
Annetts sees many Londoners forced out of the capital due to tightening catchment areas and spiralling prices.
‘Families are moving outside the M25 for better value, a bigger house and a semi-rural lifestyle,’ he says.
In September, Berkeley plans to launch new development The Ashmiles in Barnes Green, West Sussex, where it is building a state-of-the-art new school on the site of an existing high-performing primary.
‘Locals are extremely supportive because the school will benefit the whole village community, not just our development,’ says Annetts. Good schools, he explains, add a premium to prices but buyers are happy to pay.
Developments within the catchment areas of grammar schools such as Crest Nicholson’s The Hollies in Kent – which is near Invicta and Maidstone Grammar Schools – sell out ahead of schedule, according to sales director Annette Cole.
Cole says parents usually sacrifice their own quality of life to benefit their children.
‘In a choice between a good education for their child or an easy drive to work, they will, 99 per cent of the time, choose to be in a good school’s catchment area,’ she says.
‘Guaranteeing a child’s future comes primarily from providing a good education and, ultimately, that is priceless.’