Do people REALLY move house to get into a good school?

[Ijustwanttoretire]

Apparently 'The average house value in England is £247,000 but parents face taking on loans of up to £180,000 more to live near a top-rated school.' Really? Does your average family move house to get into a better senior school? £180000 would buy a decent house where I live, let alone paying that much extra to get into a good catchment area. So how many MNers have ACTUALLY done this?

We moved 10 miles last week to ensure we are in catchment of our preferred high school. We still had a couple more years before we will be applying for a school place, but the right house came onto the market, so we moved a little sooner than we had planned.
My daughter is in a bumper year of children around here, and did not get any of our school preferences for primary school (choose 2nd, 3rd and 4th closest).
Our old house is half a mile out of catchment for our preferred high school. Normally she would still get in, but like I said a lot of children were born in this area in her school year, so the odds are not good.

We've paid £90k more for the new house, but it does have an extra bedroom.

My mum and grandparents (teachers) moved when I was 10. My local secondary school was a sink school (kids throwing tables) so they all moved together so that I could go to a Grammar.

Twenty-five years later, with young DC, DH and I did the same.

We moved to live in a better catchment for primary. We’re in Edinburgh & it’s common here. I think 40% of kids here then go private for secondary. I’m from Northumberland originally and it’s the opposite of what I grew up with.

I know someone who has moved for a few months just to get into the school and will then move back as they can't actually afford to live in the area. Then they'll do it again with each of the next 3 kids if necessary. Seems nuts to me!

My brother and his family rented out their house (that they owned) that was just outside the catchment for one of the best schools in London and moved to a rented house very close to the school. They lived there for a year, got my nephew into this school and established then moved back to their house once the leases were up!

Yes we did this the summer before my daughter started primary school to get her into a better primary, and we're doing it again before she goes to secondary.