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Original poster

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

281 replies

Ijustwanttoretire · 28/08/2019 09:23

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?

OP posts:
Yubaba · 28/08/2019 10:02

We did, we moved to get our DD into a better none faith primary school rather than our catchment CofE primary.
It just so happens that our new house is also in catchment for an excellent high school, if we’d moved just one street over we’d have been under a different catchment. It didn’t occur to us when we moved to look at high schools, but I’m happy we bought where we did.
We’ve been in our house nearly 8 years.

WYP2018 · 28/08/2019 10:02

Most families in my ds’s year group moved house when there was a catchment change for secondary schools here. Including me! It is my top priority when moving house, we are in Wales.

Pootles34 · 28/08/2019 10:02

We did it. Partly because the school was better, the village nicer, but also the school has a fabulous after school club and nursery attached. None of the local schools had after school clubs.

Generally nicer areas have better schools, so I imagine it's normally a bit of both.

Nanny0gg · 28/08/2019 10:03

Of course they do. If your only choice is one that's absolutely dire then that's what to do.

The downside of this is if the HT changes so can the reputation/quality of education in a heartbeat. And then you're stuffed.

Camomila · 28/08/2019 10:04

Of course. We are only renting but when we moved towns we only looked at flats in the parish boundary of our preferred primary school.

Toothproblems · 28/08/2019 10:04

Yes it's the only reason we don't want to leave this house we are renting. If we move i will have 2 kids in one school and 2 in another as there is nowhere else to rent within the catchment area of the school my 2 eldest go to

MarshaBradyo · 28/08/2019 10:06

People in certain areas of London do because it can be hard to get in

Well state anyway, if private it doesn’t matter so much other than convenience

thatmustbenigelwiththebrie · 28/08/2019 10:07

I don't have kids but there's no way I would have bought my current house if I did as it's quite a rough area (which doesn't bother me) but the local school is pretty shit. So yes, if I had children I'd move for a better school. I can't afford leafy suburbs and ofsted outstanding areas but there would be better ones no doubt.

missperegrinespeculiar · 28/08/2019 10:07

yes, of course, always picked houses on the basis of school catchment, wouldn't dream of not doing this, this goes both for renting and buying.

Children's education is one of our top priorities, private schools are a waste of money if you are in a good public school catchment, and I mostly don't like their ethos

HavelockVetinari · 28/08/2019 10:08

I'd do it in a heartbeat. Luckily we have a range of good schools locally, but if we didn't I'd sell up and move or remortgage to afford private school. School is just as important to a person's life as the family they are born into, a bad school experience can dramatically affect a person's life.

milliefiori · 28/08/2019 10:09

They do. They could pay for a really good private school with the money they lay out on a mortgage, yet often claim they can't afford private. .I suppose you recoup some of it afterwards but it still baffles me.

littlepeas · 28/08/2019 10:09

Absolutely! My parents did this 25 years ago. Friends of mine have done this too. We decided to stay where we are and pay for private school (we prefer the area we live in to the one with the outstanding secondary). There is also a fierce fight for super selective grammars, where dc are tutored to within an inch of their life. There is a lot of hysteria over secondary schools.

MarshaBradyo · 28/08/2019 10:10

Ofsted Outstanding helps house prices as much as anything else

PaquitaVariation · 28/08/2019 10:10

I’m with you OP, I think it’s madness. No school is worth that amount.

A 3 bed 1930's semi detached house is worth 900k where I live! Many people move to be within a catchment of a good state school - putting 200k for example on your mortgage is a lot cheaper than funding 2/3 children through private education

Our 3 bed 1930s semi is worth £150k and only has good or outstanding primary and secondary schools all around. The two things aren’t necessarily linked.

ReTooth · 28/08/2019 10:10

We chose where we live largely based on school catchment. We came from overseas so looked at houses as close to the school as possible as we wanted to make sure we were at the top of any waiting lists. If you come from out of area some school admissions departments won’t even speak to you unless you are living in the area. We couldn’t even get basic info from some school districts.

We ended up very close to the school and got places for all the kids. It worked out well and the kids loved the school and REALLY loved the 5 min walk.

We were lucky that we could afford to do it.

sanityisamyth · 28/08/2019 10:10

Of course they do!

GiveMeHope103 · 28/08/2019 10:11

Yes we did. We are opting for private schools so moved to the area and signed on when my ds was 3 months old!

fishonabicycle · 28/08/2019 10:11

Loads of people buy or rent where I live because of the primary school. It makes the house prices high.

LillithsFamiliar · 28/08/2019 10:11

Yy of course people do. It was our main consideration. There's massive variation in schools in achievement, ethos, focus, etc.

OtraCosaMariposa · 28/08/2019 10:14

We did.

We were moving anyway from one end of the country to the other but even though our children were pre-schoolers, we targeted areas with the best schools. And as it's Scotland, places are guaranteed.

It is definitely reflected in house prices, prices where I am are much higher than across the catchment border into other parts of the city where schools aren't as good. Parents know that the only way to guarantee a place is to buy in catchment and are prepared to pay a premium for that.

Drogosnextwife · 28/08/2019 10:15

Same here OP, where I live 180000 would by you a decent house. I can't get my heard around the fact that so many people are offered such massive mortgages, or why they would want to take them on.

TriciaH87 · 28/08/2019 10:15

When we moved we factored in which high school was our nearest. Most in the area are awful. We lived 5 minutes from the best one when we applied for his place. Now moved further away but still in the catchment. Plus should be easier to get other ds in there as his brother will still be there when he starts.

Skinnychip · 28/08/2019 10:16

Where I live identical 1970s estate houses can vary from 500k - 900k depending on wheteher they are in school catchments or not.

We chose our house before having kids for proximity to the town and station but if we moved again school would be big factor.

When my DD started high school they needed several proof of address documents including last years council tax bill!

KatherineJaneway · 28/08/2019 10:17

I used to work around the housing market and some people definitely did move or choose a location based on school catchment area.

hormonesorDHbeingadick · 28/08/2019 10:18

The catchment area was important to me when we bought our house and I didn’t have any children at that point.