Homes near top secondary schools carry 29% price premium, Savills says
Savills found the premium in the top 10% of constituencies for school results has narrowed from 33% a decade ago as price growth lagged.
Homes in the English constituencies with the best secondary school results sell for 29% more on average than their regional average, according to research from Savills.
Savills compared average house prices with the average GCSE Attainment 8 score achieved by schools over the past three years in 543 parliamentary constituencies. In the top 10% for school performance, the average house price is £645,601. For detached homes in those areas the average is £1.41 million, which Savills puts at 56% above the matching regional figure. In the bottom 10%, the average price is £253,497, a 20% discount to the regional average, and detached homes average £383,239, a 21% discount.
Richmond Park came first, with an average Attainment 8 score of 64.7 and an average house price of just under £1.06 million, 54% higher than the London average. Altrincham and Sale West was second, with an average price of £557,947, more than twice the North West average. Chipping Barnet was third, where the average is £708,773. Taking the 20 strongest constituencies together, Savills puts the average price at £776,678, a premium of 43% over regional levels.
Savills said premiums differ widely by location. In Carshalton and Wallington, Sutton and Cheam and Brent West, prices are as much as 29% below the London average.
Prices in the top 10% of constituencies have grown 5.3% over five years and 29.8% over ten years, compared with 14.3% and 50.2% in the bottom 10%. Savills linked this to the number of top-performing constituencies in London and the South East, where price growth has been weaker, and to pressure at the upper end of the market. A decade ago the premium in the top 10% stood at 33%, against 29% now.
Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills, said: "While homes in the strongest-performing areas remain significantly more expensive, their premium over the regional average has narrowed over the past decade." He added that higher mortgage rates had made buying in many of these areas harder, holding prices down while raising monthly costs for families with a mortgage.
