Malcolm Sargent Catchment Area Properties Outperform Stamford Average By 33%

I was having a chat with a Stamford property investor the other day, when he asked if schools, especially primary schools, affected the local property market in terms of demand from buyers and tenants to a property.  

Anecdotally, I have always known this to be true; a good school creates good demand and good demand does affect house prices.  



So, I asked my colleagues who chat to all the house hunters and relocating families asking to be registered on our mailing list, and they confirmed that most people cite location as their number one factor.

After looking through our mailing list, it confirms there is a close correlation between the high demand areas of Stamford and the close proximity to a good primary school.  Talking to my team in a recent morning meeting, they agreed many people would look to increase their budget quite significantly, whilst others would consider downgrading their property requirements to be close to a good primary school.

Those of you who regularly read this blog will know I like a challenge, so I decided to look at the science behind these assumptions.  According to the SchoolGuide website, Malcolm Sargent Primary School is one of the best primary schools in Stamford.  Its’ figures are certainly impressive.  Their last Ofsted Report classified it as ‘Good’, a score of 105 on reading and Maths 106 (National Average 99.4 and 99.6 respectively) at Key Stage 2.  These results are even more impressive when you look at pupil/staff ratio of 25:1.

Looking at property sales within half a mile of Malcolm Sargent (the core of the catchment area), property values have risen in value since 2000 by 222.6%, whilst according the Land Registry, the Stamford average as a whole has risen in the same time frame by 167.1%.

That means the parents of Malcolm Sargent have seen the values of their properties rise proportionally 33.2% more than the Stamford average ... interesting don’t you think?

However, whilst a good primary school significantly contributes more to house prices, the same can’t be said for secondary schools.  There are two reasons for this; firstly, as secondary schools are much larger their catchment areas are correspondingly much larger, meaning parents don’t need to live so close to the school.  Secondly in the UK, whilst the difference between the top 25% and bottom 25% of secondary schools is not insignificant, in the primary school sector, the difference between the top 25% and bottom 25% is, according to the London School of Economics, is considerably and significantly more.

Many other Stamford landlords, both who are with us and many who are with other Stamford agents, like to pop in for a coffee or ring/email us to  discuss the Stamford property market to consider how Stamford compares with its closest rivals and hopefully we can answer all their questions.  You must take lots of advice and seek out the best opinion.  

David Crooke

Owner and MD