Yahoo Finance Where to buy a home near a grammar school for less than £300k
The lack of catchment areas around most grammar schools brings some weird side effects. In some parts of Kent, for example, estate agents report that London parents bus in their children every day from the capital. In parts of Birmingham, students from out of town would rent property nearby during the school week.
It also means, that along with the selective nature of the grammar school system, that the properties do not inflate local home values. In fact, some neighbourhoods can come with mega discounts of more than 20pc.
Frances Clacy, of Savills, said: “Of the 95 areas in England that have grammar schools, three-fifths are cheaper than their local authority average and only 16 have a house price premium of 10pc or more. This is a huge difference to the high premiums we know are associated with proximity to top performing non-selective state schools.”
But an increasing number of grammar schools are now tightening rules on where its pupils can live, meaning this could soon change.
So where can you play the system? In this four-part series, we’ve mapped the towns and neighbourhoods that are home to England’s 163 selective grammar schools and ranked them by house price, using exclusive data from Savills.
These are the best places to buy with a budget of £300,000.
Where to buy in the West Midlands
Grammar schools have been instrumental in the fortunes of house prices in King’s Heath, a suburb on the south side of Birmingham, where the average home is £266,176.
Aaron Dickson, of Connells estate agents, said: “King’s Heath used to be the overspill for people who couldn’t afford to live in Mosley. Now it’s come into its own because of the schools.”
Back in 2015, property in King’s Heath cost less than a third of a comparable house in neighbouring Mosley, which is closer to the city centre, said Mr Dickson. Now, homes are around two thirds the cost of those in Mosley, he said.
King’s Heath has two grammar schools, the King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys and the King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls. Last year, King Edward VI grammar schools introduced priority catchment areas. “That had a profound effect on local house prices,” said Mr Dickson.
Previously, parents would send their children to school from areas outside Birmingham such as Warwickshire. Local landlords rented out properties to teenagers who would live near their school during the week and then go home at the weekends, said Mr Dickson.
Mosley is included in the catchment area for the King Edward VI Camp Hill schools, but the new rules mean out-of-towners who want to send their children to the schools must move closer in. Local values in King’s Heath, which is made up primarily of Victorian terraced houses, were up 15pc year-on-year, said Mr Dickson.
The Birmingham neighbourhoods of Bartley Green, where homes cost £242,101, and Handsworth, where homes cost £219,419 – a 10.3pc saving on the local area – are also home to King Edward VI grammar schools.
Other hotspots in the West Midlands are Rugby, Wolverhampton, and Newport in Shropshire.
Where to buy in the East Midlands
Lincolnshire has 10 grammar schools in areas where homes cost less than £300,000: Bourne, Caistor, Spalding, Sleaford, Horncastle, Louth and Grantham.
Of these, Grantham, home to The King’s School for boys and the Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School, has the best value homes. Properties cost £204,400, a 24.6pc saving on the local authority average.
A half hour’s drive north east, the market town of Sleaford has Carre’s Grammar School for boys, and Kestevan and Sleaford High School, which is girls only up to age 16 and then mixed for sixth form. The average house price was £220,822, a saving of 12pc compared to the local authority average.
Jamie Aspland, of Pygott and Crone estate agents in Sleaford, said: “We are getting a lot of people moving from down south who don’t need to be living where they’re working.”
Homes within the triangle of Grantham Road, London Road and the village of Quarrington on the south side of town are most in demand. Pygott and Crone’s local office has 75 available properties. Normally, it has 100. “More properties are selling over asking price than I have seen in 18 years of working here,” said Mr Aspland.
Where to buy in the South West
Within this budget bracket, the South West’s grammar school hotspots are split between Devon and Gloucester.
The university city of Plymouth, which sits on the estuary of the River Tamar, has three grammar schools in total: Devonport High School for Boys, Devonport High School for Girls and Plymouth High School for Girls. The average home is £205,903, a saving of 10.4pc compared to the local area average.
An hour’s drive to the east, in Torquay, are another two: Torquay Grammar School for Boys and Torquay Grammar School for Girls. Homes here cost £262,071.
Just across the bay, outside Brixham, the parish of Churston Ferrers has the co-educational Churston Ferrers Grammar School. But locals must pay a premium for property: homes cost £283,807, a 9.3pc premium on the local authority average.
Gloucester has four grammar schools. Denmark Road High School for girls and the co-educational St Thomas Rich’s School are in the northern half of the city. Here, homes cost £250,353, a 7.4pc premium on the local average.
Those wishing to save can instead opt for The Crypt School, which is coed, or Ribston Hall High School for girls, in the southern half of the city where homes cost £237,510.
Where to buy in the South East
Kent has 12 grammar schools in areas where homes cost less than £300,000. Three of these – Fort Pitt Grammar School for girls, Holcombe Grammar School for boys, and Chatham Grammar for girls – are in the north Kent town of Chatham. Homes here cost £284,909, 3pc less than the local average.
In the neighbouring town of Rochester, where homes cost £282,183, there is the Rochester Grammar School for girls and Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School for boys.
Spencer Fortag, of Dockside Property Services, a Kent estate agent, said the shift to working from home in the wake of lockdown has brought a 20pc rise in the number of movers from the capital. “Buyers want a better lifestyle,” he added. Demand is particularly high for family houses.
Not everyone is relocating. “Some grammar schools are community schools that will always prioritise local kids. Others have coaches of children running daily from south London,” said Mr Fortag.
Ashford (£293,195), Sittingbourne (£292,511), and Dover (£239,899) each have two grammar schools, while Rainham (£284,395) has one.
Where to buy in the North West
Trafford in Greater Manchester is home to two grammar school hotspots, and they come with big discounts.
Stretford, south-west of Manchester, has the co-educational Stretford Grammar. Homes cost £296,807, 24.3pc less than the local average.
The neighbouring town of Urmston, a little to the west, is home to the Urmston Grammar School, which is also co-ed. Property here costs £291,573, a 25.6pc saving on local values.
Elsewhere across the North West, Clitheroe in Lancashire has the Clitheroe Royal Grammar School, and savings of 14.3pc compared to local prices. Homes cost £237,648.
Penrith in Cumbria (£215,378) and Wavertree (£202,714) in Liverpool also each have a single school.
