New | British homes near good schools show strong price growth
Properties close to good educational institutes stage faster recovery
For overseas investors looking to buy assets in Britain, the average property prices within a two-mile radius of an independent school have outperformed the national average, a survey showed.
According to a survey by agent Hamptons International, the average property price in England and Wales stood at £173,500 last year while the average price for a property within a two-mile radius of an independent school was £354,000. The same pattern was also seen in London.
"London property prices in 2014 were on average 30 per cent higher than at the peak of the market in 2007, but homes close to an independent school were 66 per cent higher," said Fionnuala Earley, a director of research at Hamptons.
The survey found that properties close to Westminster School were now 100 per cent higher than the 2007 peak and those near St Paul's School were 75 per cent higher.
While there is not necessarily a causal link between proximity to independent schools and local property prices, there is a correlation between the desirability of an area and the existence of good independent schools.
"Properties close to the best independent schools have seen an uplift in prices, recovering faster and more strongly from the market downturn than the national average," said Earley.
The average house price in London is now 30 per cent above the 2007 market peak and other areas of the country are playing catch-up.
Capital values in the capital may have softened recently but are still 12 per cent higher than a year earlier. And as the recovery spread, the prospects for the rest of the country were looking good, Hamptons said.
