With the deadline for secondary school applications at the end of this month (31 October), we have have pinpointed education hotspots across England, highlighting the locations that offer the best value with access to an outstanding-rated secondary school.

Our analysis shows that despite property prices climbing across the UK by more than 20% over the course of the pandemic – something that has created new £1m neighbourhoods - some areas continue to combine affordability with a top-rated secondary education.

We analysed more than 500 outstanding-rated secondary schools in England and compared the average sale price for a house within 2km of the respective postcode district to the local authority average. We were then able to identify the top 20 areas offering the biggest relative discount.

In London we reduced the radius to 1km to reflect the greater density of housing and population.

Outside of the capital, Yorkshire and The Humber dominates the list, as the chart below shows. Heading the list, the LS10 area located south of Leeds city centre offers the largest potential saving, with the average sale price of a house 48% below the average for the local authority (see table). The outstanding school in the area is the Ruth Gorse Academy.

The spread of locations underlines the importance of doing your homework when choosing a home based on the location of a secondary school.

UK Excluding London

According to our latest sentiment survey, proximity to a highly rated school was as or more important to 72% of buyers than it was a year ago.

In the capital, it is outer London that offers the best relative affordability with access to top-rated secondary schools (see chart). The average sale price in SM4 in the London Borough of Merton, which includes the areas of Wimbledon and Mitcham, was 27% below the local authority average in the 12 months to April 2022 topping a table that also features Bromley, Croydon and Harrow.

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Note: Ofsted data correct as of October 2022.