Grammar school expansion plans: homes near England's top 30 state schools command premiums of up to £630k

The Prime Minister Teresa May has announced plans to allow grammar schools to expand and to give all schools in England the right to apply to select pupils by ability.

This week, new research reveals parents face paying an average of £53,000 more to live near one of England's top 30 state schools - of which grammar schools dominate the top 10.

"The truth is that we already have selection in our school system - and it's selection by house price, selection by wealth. That is simply unfair," says May.

"We are effectively saying to poorer and some of the most disadvantaged children in our country that they can't have the kind of education their richer counterparts can enjoy."

In Buckinghamshire, homes near Beaconsfield High School, the top grammar school for girls, are selling for a whopping £630,000 more than the average house price in the county, according to the report by Lloyds Bank.

Family houses in the school's postal district now average just below £1 million, 171 per cent higher than the countywide average of £367,000.

In the north London borough of Barnet, homes close to The Henrietta Barnett School command a premium of £430,000, 74 per cent higher than the borough's average and the second highest premium in the England.

The school, a secondary academy for girls aged 11-18, rose from third in the official league tables last year to second this year, with 95.89 per cent of students achieving A* to B.

"Parents generally wait to find out whether their child has passed the entrance exams before moving close to the school," says Adam Cooper, office manager of local estate agents Morelands.

He says three-bedroom homes on Falloden Way, about half a mile from The Henrietta Barnett School, start from £600,000, but five-bedroom houses further in to Hampstead Garden Suburb, a more sought-after area, can command premiums of up to £2 million.

At Sir William Borlase's Grammar School in Buckinghamshire, parents face paying more than £220,000 above the wider country's avearge for a house in the school's postal district.

"Schools with the best exam performance are proving to be an increasingly strong draw for homemovers, as we’ve seen house prices rise sharply in locations close to such schools," says Andrew Mason, Lloyds Bank mortgage products director.

“The popularity of areas close to high performing schools may mean that homes remain unaffordable for buyers on average earnings.”

Overall, house prices close to the schools that achieved the strongest GCSE results last year have risen by 31 per cent in the year to May 2016.

The Lloyds research shows that since 2011, average house prices in areas with the best state schools have increased by £76,000, compared to a national increase of £42,000, while house prices in seven of the areas in the survey have risen by over £100,000 in the last five years.

The 10 postcodes where homes near a top state schools command the highest premiums:

*Source: Lloyds, Land Registry and Department for Education. Average prices May 2016.