Schools Put Pressure on Home Buyers

6 March 2019

The average price of a house in England where schools have an Ofsted rating one is £331,605, a shocking £40,000 more than in areas with a rating of two.

A recent study conducted by Confused.com using Ofsted data calculates just how much it costs you to live in areas with the most sought-after schools.

The Ofsted ratings of 20,545 were analysed and homeowners would have to fork out £331,605 to live near an ‘Outstanding’ school.

This decreases to £292,933 for a ‘Good’ rating, a rating of ‘3 and 4’ costs £253,121 and £235,242 respectively.

At the most extreme end of the scale, Londoners can pay up to £1.7 million to be within catchment of the best local schools.

Sunderland is the best value for a top rated school where you can expect to pay £114,157 for a house and Birmingham has the highest number in the top rated category – 160!

SW7 in London on the other hand is somewhat more expensive – a staggering £1,795,725 to be precise.

A spokesperson for Confused.com says “Buying a home near a good school is something parents start thinking about years before the time comes, but they might not realise how much it’s going to cost them.”

Jonathan Rolande of the NAPB adds “As a parent I know just how important it is to find the right school for your child and it seems that buyers are prepared to pay to get the right choice but there are still many excellent schools in areas outside of the most expensive locations.”


Article provided by one of The National Association of Property Buyers founding members House Buy Fast.

This content has been provided to us by the writer. Whilst believed to be factually correct, we cannot accept responsibility for content contained within it.

Jonathan Rolande

Jonathan Rolande (MNAEA MICBA MARLA) began in the property business in the late 1980’s and is a Director of House Buy Fast and helped to found The National Association of Property Buyers in 2013. He has worked closely with The Property Ombudsman to develop a Code of Practice for Residential Property Buying Companies.