|
 Nearly
three quarters of parents would be prepared to move home in order to
secure their child’s place at a ‘good’ school, according to a new survey
from
thinkproperty.com, a major, independent consumer property portal,
ranked 3rd within the top 10 UK property websites*. (*Source: Hitwise,
December 2007).
Over 1.6m homes are bought and sold each year in the UK,
with over 50% of home movers citing ‘distance from ‘good’ schools’ as
important, according to the new survey, which was conducted amongst nearly
1,000 home owners nationwide. The survey also highlights the lengths that
buyers will go to in order to secure their ideal home.
A total of 63% of property owners with children of a
school age would be willing to move in order to get their child in to a
‘good’ school and 15% said they would go as far as renting or buying an
additional property, to show that their address is far closer to the ideal
school than they actually are.
Nearly 30% of parents would be prepared to move in to a
smaller property to fund their child’s place at a ‘good’ school, with 45%
prepared to take less holidays, give up social activities (36%), change to
a smaller car (29%), spend family savings (23%) and borrow money (21%).
In fact, 13% of respondents said they would change their
job to help secure their child’s place at a ‘good’ school and 2% would
even be prepared to start practising a religion.
Some home movers would even be prepared to move in to a
new UK region in order to be closer to a ‘good’ school, with 18% claiming
they would be prepared to move more than 20 miles away from their current
location. One in five parents would move up to 20 miles away and 62% would
move up to 10 miles away. 
According to the survey, parents are also prepared to pay
extra for a property inside the catchment area of a ‘good’ school (70%),
with 37% prepared to spend up to 5% extra, 20% prepared to spend up to 10%
extra, 10% prepared to spend up to 15% extra and 6% prepared spend over
15% for a property located within school catchment areas.
Mark Goddard, Managing Director of thinkproperty.com
comments: “The lengths that parents are prepared to go to in order to
secure their child’s place at a ‘good’ school clearly indicates that
moving locations, renting or buying a second property within a ‘good’
school catchment area, are serious considerations for many home owners.
The purchase of a property within a catchment area of a
‘good’ school is a fantastic investment, as when your children have left
school, there will still be many new parents looking to get their child
into the school who may be prepared to pay extra for the location.
However, it is important to take a variety of factors into
consideration before purchasing a property. Home movers should consider
overall location, commuting distance from major towns and cities, the
condition of a property, the crime rates, parking and the local community.
We know from previous research that these are all fundamental
considerations for home movers when looking for a property. It is well
worth considering these when thinking about moving closer to a ‘good’
school in order to gain the maximum benefits, and ultimately the best
return on your property when you come to re-sell it.”
thinkproperty.com has also just launched the ability to look at
the performance of local state and independent primary
and secondary schools, plotted on its Google map overlays, giving
home movers access to valuable information on schools in the local area
at the touch of a button. Users can now see the full contact details of
each school, as well as the number of pupils that attend and the age
range. Importantly, thinkproperty.com also provides top line data on the
most recent performance of the school, with percent figures on the number
of pupils that have reached Government performance targets with a url link
to the full performance report.
The new thinkproperty.com Google map
overlays also include information on mainline railway stations and
hospitals, whereby site users can find key information and contact
details at the touch of a button, all displayed clearly on a map.
thinkproperty.com is a major, independent consumer property portal and
now welcomes over 2 million visitors*. (*Source: Hitbox, March 2008)
thinkproperty.com holds over 600,000 properties from the
UK and overseas and is currently working with over 6,000 agents who are
uploading their stock to the site and benefit from an increasing number of
leads originating from the property portal.
If you have experienced this yourself or are thinking of
it why not pop into our discussion forums to talk about your experience -
here
|
