Homes near top state schools in Scotland cost on average over £40,000 more

Parents who want to stay near a top performing state school in Scotland end up paying a premium of £41,000 on average compared to average house prices as a whole, new research shows.

Homes near Cults Academy in Aberdeen have the highest premium of £102,497 or 52% compared to average house prices in neighbouring parts of the city, according to the research from the Bank of Scotland.

Overall house prices near Scotland’s top 20 performing state schools have an average cost of £231,476 and as a result buyers are paying a premium of £41,441 or 22% when compared to houses in surrounding areas at £190,035

However, staying close to eight of the top 20 performing state schools costs less than the surrounding area. For example, top performing Jordanhill School in Glasgow comes with a house price premium of only £3,521 or 2%.

Houses near eight of the top 20 schools actually cost less than the average for the local authority that they are in. St Luke’s High School in East Renfrewshire comes with the biggest discount of £100,29, some 40% less, followed by both St. Ninian’s High School and Lenzie Academy, both in East Dunbartonshire, with a discount of £55,369, some 24%less.

The second best performing school, St. Ninian’s High School in East Renfrewshire, comes with a premium of £16,659 or 7%, followed by Mearns Castle High with a slightly higher premium of £36,291 or 15% but fourth placed Williamwood High comes with a discount of £14,091, some 6% less.

The most expensive area featured in the top 20 is Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh with an average house price of £365,804 which is £121,952 or 50% more expensive than the surrounding area.

‘When buying a home, parents understandably want their children to be close to a top performing school. In areas such as Edinburgh and Aberdeen, the price tag for a house close to the best state schools is unsurprisingly large,’ said Graham Blair, mortgages director at Bank of Scotland.

‘However, in other areas, particularly East Renfrewshire, this doesn’t appear to be the case with three of the top five schools being reasonably affordable, or even cheaper than houses in the surrounding area,’ he pointed out.

The research also shows that average house price growth in areas with a leading state school is £45,493 since 2012 so living near a top performing state school appears to be a shrewd investment based on house price performances over the last five years.

Parents who bought a home near one of the top 20 schools in 2012 have seen an average house price rise of £45,493, from £185,983 in 2012 to £231,476 in 2017, an increase of 24%.

The biggest increases in prices in the top 20 have been in East Dunbartonshire where the average price of a house in the catchments for Bearsden Academy and Boclair Academy has grown by 37% over the last five years from £219,097 in 2012 to £299,577 in 2017.