Ofsted school results have direct impact on local property market

A good Ofsted result for a primary school boosts local house prices by up to 1.5% – an average of £4,500 at current prices, new research suggests.

The results showed parents really are willing to move to a new area to improve their chances of getting the kids into a good school.

The study of 8,000 schools in England found that just a single point increase from ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ can inflate property prices by an average of 0.5%.

But in more affluent areas this increase rockets to as much as 1.5%.

However, a drop in Ofsted ratings can also lead to a fall in house prices by the same amount.

Each year, parents scramble to get their kids into the best schools, sometimes moving house if they can afford to do so.

Parents applying for primary schools are currently on tenterhooks, waiting for the results of their application to come in on April 16.

The research, conducted by the University of Sussex, was presented at the Royal Economic Society’s annual conference.

But the study also found that Ofsted result changes had almost no effect on house prices in less affluent areas.

Author Dr Iftikhar Hussain, from the University of Sussex, said: “People seem to be using Ofsted results as a quick and easy proxy for the quality of a school, whereas they find it much harder to fathom changes in a school’s SATS results.

“The fact there is any market reaction at all to an Ofsted score is extremely interesting, given that changes in inspection ratings are signals of short-term innovations in quality, which may be reversed in the next inspection round.

“What’s clear from the results is that richer households are more willing and able to pay for higher quality schools.”

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