Parents are prepared to pay an average of 12 per cent more for a house which is in the catchment area of a good state school.

Competition among parents with young children has driven prices up in areas close to good schools, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said yesterday.

It has dubbed these people EELs because their primary concern when buying a property is Education, Education, Location.

But the amount people are prepared to pay to be close to a good state secondary or primary school varies widely from region to region.

Parents living in the West Midlands are willing to pay the most to get their children into a top state school, paying an average of 16 per cent more for their property, while those in London paid the least at just seven per cent.

House prices in the catchment area of good schools are about 13 per cent higher in the North, North-West, South West and Wales, while they are 12 per cent higher in the East Midlands and ten per cent higher in the South-East and Yorkshire and Humberside.

The research, which was based on a survey of 220 RICS estate agents, also found that parents were prepared to pay more to be near a good primary school than a good secondary one.

The majority of agents said it was parents who were prepared to pay a premium to get their children into a good primary school that were driving up the price of homes close to top schools.

RICS housing spokesman Jeremy Leaf said: "Good state schools are a deciding factor for many house buyers.

"If private schools are financially out of their reach, they are prepared to move and pay a premium.

"What is particularly interesting is the regional differences - Londoners being prepared to pay the least, half that of the West Midlands to secure their school place, and the fact that primary schools seem to be more important to EELs than secondary schools."

Recent research found that living in the catchment area of a good primary school in Reading could boost the cost of a house by up to a third, compared to property close to a bad school.

The study, carried out by Paul Cheshire of the London School of Economics and Stephen Sheppard of Williams College in the United States, also found that living near a good secondary school could lift prices by 18 per cent.

Friday October 03, 2003