HOUSEBUYERS PAY 2.6% more to live close to a secondary school, according to the latest Daft.ie research report, carried out in conjunction with researchers at Trinity College Dublin.

This translates into a national average of €5,600 to live 100 metres from a post-primary school, compared a similar property 1km away from the same school.

• On average, the premium for being close to a secondary school nationwide is 2.6% or €5,600.
• The premium is significantly smaller for 1-2 bedroom properties (1.3%) than for 3-5 bedroom properties (above 2%).
• The proximity premium for a secondary school has fallen since the Celtic Tiger.
• The premium is far greater for schools with the highest progression rates (4.3%) than for schools where less than half continue on to higher education (0.5%).

The report also examines whether the premium varies around the country. The premium is largest in Leinster, outside of Dublin, where it stands at 4.7%, compared to 1.6% in Dublin. In Munster, the average premium is 2.5%, while in Connacht-Ulster, it is 0.6%, the report added.

Reflecting the fact that families requiring larger properties also require access to schools, the premium is bigger for three-, four- and five-bedroom properties (2.2%-2.4%) than it is for 1-2 bedroom properties (1.3%).

The Daft.ie study included 615,528 properties listed between January and the end of June. Daft.ie Daft.ie

10 times as large

The report also finds that schools that send a larger fraction of students on to higher education cause a bigger impact on house prices nearby than others.

For schools where at least four out of five final-year students progress to higher education, the price premium is 4.3%.

This is almost 10 times as large as the premium where fewer than half of students progress to higher education.

“This research uses a host of different datasets and leading methods to investigate how being close to a secondary school affects the price of housing in Ireland,” said Ronan Lyons, assistant professor of economics at Trinity College, Dublin.

It puts numbers on the common-sense intuition that it costs more to buy a house with good access to schools.

“It also finds evidence that supports the idea that houses close to better schools enjoy a bigger price premium than others.

“In other countries, this link between house prices and schools is the reason that property tax is used to fund schools. While that’s not the case yet in Ireland, this shows a different aspect of the benefits that occur from public investment in education.”

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