I was having a chat with a Lancaster property investor the other day, when he asked if schools, especially primary schools, affected the local property market in terms of demand from buyers and tenants to a property.
Anecdotally, I have always known this to be true, a good school creates good demand and good demand does affect house prices. So, I asked my colleagues on the front line, who take the phone calls from people putting themselves on our mailing list and they confirmed that most people cite location as their number one factor. After looking through our mailing list, it confirms there is a close correlation between the high demand areas of Lancaster and the close proximity to a good primary school.
Talking to my team in a recent morning meeting, they agreed many people would look to increase their budget quite significantly, whilst others would consider downgrading their property requirements to be close to a good primary school.
Those of you who regularly read this blog will know I like a challenge, so I decided to look at the science behind these assumptions.
According to the SchoolGuide website, St. Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School is one of the best primary schools in Lancaster. Its figures are certainly impressive. Their last Ofsted Report classified it as Outstanding, 100% of 11-year pupils achieving Level 4 or above in maths, reading and writing whilst 75% of them achieved level 5. Finally, the schools’ KS2 rating was classed as Excellent.
Looking at property sales within half a mile of St. Bernadette’s, property values have risen in value since 2000 by 139.14%, whilst according to recent figures, the Lancaster average as a whole has risen in the same time frame by 95.09%.
That means the parents of St. Bernadette’s have seen the values of their properties rise proportionally 46.32% more than the Lancaster average … interesting don’t you think?
However, whilst a good primary school significantly contributes more to house prices, the same can’t be said for secondary schools. There are two reasons for this, firstly, as secondary schools are much larger, so their catchment areas are correspondingly much larger, meaning parents don’t need to live so close to the school. Secondly, in the UK, whilst the difference between the top 25% and bottom 25% of secondary schools is not insignificant, in the primary school sector, the difference between the top 25% and bottom 25%, according to the London School of Economics, is considerably and significantly more.
Many other Lancaster landlords, both who are with us and many who are with other Lancaster agents, like to pop in for a coffee or ring/email us to discuss the Lancaster property market, to consider how Lancaster compares with its closest rivals and hopefully we can answer all their questions. You’ll generally find me in the JDG office on Market Street.
Thanks for reading
John