Houses near top state schools cost £40,000 more on average

A house near a top state secondary school costs an extra £40,000 on average, according to research that reveals education premiums that rank alongside some private school fees.

The average property in a postcode district that includes a top 50 state secondary commands a price tag of £415,791, compared with £375,217 across the wider local authority areas in which those schools are located, a UK-wide analysis by the estate agent Yopa found.

The £40,574 extra, a premium of about 11%, can be compared with an average annual fee of £23,000 charged by private schools, according to the Good Schools Guide.

However, some charge less than £6,000 a year, indicating that over seven years of secondary education parents could end up paying a similar sum to the average extra cost of a house near a top state school.

The increased price tag for such properties varies significantly across the country, according to the research, although individual cases can be less informative than the overall average, due to local market factors.

Bishop Vesey’s grammar school in the well-to-do West Midlands town of Sutton Coldfield tops the table of schools where buyers are likely to pay much more than in the surrounding area.

Homes across the B74 postcode district go for an average of £509,964, a premium of £275,814 compared with the average of £234,150 in Birmingham, which includes more economically deprived areas.

In London, the biggest premium is paid by people living close to Henrietta Barnett school, a grammar academy for girls. The average property across its NW11 postcode is valued at 37% more than in the rest of the surrounding borough of Barnet, equivalent to an additional £354,288.

However, there are some outliers to the trend. Across the postcode district home to Reading school and Kendrick school, the average property costs £276,870. That is £84,373 below the wider Reading average of £361,243.

Verona Frankish, the chief executive of Yopa, said: “For many homebuyers with children, the quality of local schools is one of the most important considerations when deciding where to live and, with the new school year approaching, education will be front of mind for many families considering their next move.”

Separate research reveals that in London, homebuyers with children who go to a nearby private school are opting in to a double whammy of extra costs, with properties near a top fee-paying establishment – which are often located in the most upmarket areas – going for premiums of up to 77%.

Queen’s college, London, tops the table. Homes across the W1 postcode command an average price of £1.92m compared with the wider Westminster average of £854,198.

Westminster school and Francis Holland school, Sloane Square follow. Both are located within the SW1 postcode, where the average property price stands at £1.49m, a premium of 54.5% compared with Westminster as a whole.