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# Property
People will pay more to live near a school (regardless of how good it is)
As a national average, people pay 2.6% more to live within 200 metres of a primary school.
A NEW REPORT has found that people are willing to pay more to live near a secondary school regardless of how likely the pupils are to go on to higher education.
The study by property website Daft.ie found that people are willing to pay thousands more for houses located within 200 metres of a school.
This was an average of €4,700 or 2.4% more for a primary school and €3,600 or 1.9% more for post-primary.
In some areas of South Dublin, people are willing to pay €25,000 more to be near a primary school.
However, post-primary schools that progress a higher number of pupils on to higher education are no more desired than schools that do not perform as well.
‘Exact quality’
“Obviously it’s tough to measure the exact quality of a secondary school,” report author and economist Ronan Lyons said.
He noted that smaller class sizes will have an effect on the price people are willing to pay to live near a primary school.
But when the characteristics of the area, such as adults’ average education level and the unemployment rate, are factored in for secondary schools, there is little difference between schools where 50% of pupils go on to higher education, and schools where more than 90% progress.
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On average, people are willing to pay 1.5% more to live near a primary school in a city, but 3% more in the country.
When it came to post-primary in rural areas, this dropped to 0.1%.
Lyons said that this could be down to the demographic of people buying a home, which is usually people planning to have or with young children, meaning that the ability to walk to school is a big plus.
There are also fewer secondary schools in rural areas, meaning that people are less likely to live near one, and the bus network is likely to help in getting to one.
Other findings of the report include:
- People are willing to pay more to live near a Catholic primary school, but other religions are favoured at secondary level.
- Educate Together schools will attract a 0.1% premium over other schools.
- There is little obvious preference for the gender of the school, but an all-boys post-primary school will attract a 1.7% premium, compared to 1.9% for mixed and all-girls.
Journal Media Ltd has shareholders – Brian and Eamonn Fallon – in common with Distilled Media Group.
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