PARENTS should be prepared to pay a hefty premium to buy a home near a top performing state school.
Research by Lloyds found house prices near top state schools have jumped by almost 40 per cent or £116,696 in the last five years.
That’s much faster compared to the national average of just £51,624 or 22 per cent across England as a whole.
Parents looking to buy a home close to one of the country’s top 30 performing state schools today face paying an average house price of £415,844.
That’s £128,615 or 45 per cent higher than the average house price across the country at £287,229.
Properties near Beaconsfield High School in Buckinghamshire, the highest-ranked secondary state in England, cost an average of £1,034,547 or a whopping £643,181 more than the average house price in the county.
Homes close to the Henrietta Barnett School in Barnet command the second highest premium of £367,632 or 59 per cent more.
How can you save for your first home?
OWNING your own home is a national obsession yet more and more people are struggling to get on the property ladder.
But there are things you can do with your savings to help.
In 2013, in a bid to boost home ownership, the government launched the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme.
This helped lenders offer mortgages to first-buyers who only needed to scrape together a 5 per cent deposit.
It closed to new applicants at the end of 2016.
Help to Buy Isas give you the chance to earn a 25 per cent government bonus on whatever you have saved up to a maximum of £3,000.
It plans to be closed in December 2019 so be quick if you’re planning on saving for a deposit.
This was followed by Dr Challoner’s Grammar School in Buckinghamshire with a premium of £246,598.
But parents do not always need to pay a premium to live near a top school, the research found.
With an average price of £288,430, average properties close to the Reading School and Kendrick School, both in Reading, are £132,718 or 32 per cent below the county average.
This was the biggest discount for a house near a top performing state school within the survey.
Lloyds’ ranking was combined by comparing house prices in the postal districts of top schools with the county average by using official data.
Andrew Mason, Lloyds Bank mortgage products director said:“All parents want to ensure their children get a good education, so it’s not surprising that homes in areas close to the top performing schools typically command a significant premium over the surrounding area and high demand has led to prices being out of reach for many buyers.”
A recent report from the Resolution Foundation revealed that Britain’s “housing catastrophe” means young families will be priced out of owning their own home until their forties.
It found the share of income British families spend on housing has trebled over the last 50 years.
Britain's cheapest houses are being auctioned - with a guide price of just £1 in Middlesbrough.