Highly regarded schools have long been a key driver for housing demand, and parents are often prepared to pay over the odds to live in one of the country’s most sought-after catchment areas.

But living in an area with the best schools does not guarantee you a place, especially in the UK’s most densely populated locations. It’s important parents also consider the availability of places, alongside the quality of a school. 

To find out more, we examined how many primary and secondary school pupils got into their first choice school across England.

The figures varied substantially. Overall, 92.3 per cent of primary school applicants have received an offer from their first choice school for this September, higher than the 82.8 per cent for secondary school applicants.

Generally, the North East sees a higher proportion of applicants getting their first choice (96.1 per cent of primary school pupils and 89.2 per cent for secondary school pupils). But the South West came top for secondary school allocations at 89.3 per cent.

Ten out of the top 15 areas for primary schools were located in the North of England, with the exceptions of Swindon, Devon, Bath & North East Somerset and Cornwall in the South West and Isle of Wight in the South East.

Meanwhile in London, the pressure on schools is intense. In April, 11 per cent of applicants in outer London and 13 per cent from inner London didn’t get into their first-choice primary school.

For parents applying to secondary schools, the situation was worse: a third of pupils (33 per cent) didn’t get an offer from their first choice in inner London, higher than the 29 per cent across outer London and well above the average of 17 per cent across England as a whole.

Compare that with the areas with the highest acceptances for secondaries: 98.2 per cent of children in central Bedfordshire got into their first choice, while it was 96.9 per cent in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

What is the relationship between house prices and schools places?

Our research revealed a strong correlation between the availability of school places and house price growth. By ranking local areas by the proportion of applicants who received an offer from their first choice school we found that those with the highest proportion tend to have the lowest house prices but the highest annual house price growth. This indicates greater demand from families wanting to buy in the area.

Meanwhile areas where there is a much higher demand for housing, and a shortage of school places, have the highest house prices.

As such, parents based in the North East have the best chance of being offered a place at their first choice of primary school (96.1 per cent). While average house prices stand at £182,081, the lowest of all the regions in England, they are rising. Figures show the average property value grew by 8.8 per cent over the past year.

This compares with inner London where children have the least chance of being offered a place at their chosen school. House prices are the highest of all regions (£851,044) and annual growth is the slowest (1.5 percent).

Further Information

Contact Frances McDonald