PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Middle class parents are paying up to £77,000 above the average house price for homes in the catchment areas of top performing state schools, research has revealed.
The cost of property near the 50 best schools is 35 per cent higher than that in the rest of the UK, with the most expensive catchment area for a top state school found around the Henrietta Barnett School in north London.
The average price of homes near the secondary - judged outstanding it its latest Ofsted report - is £655,429.
Other state schools at the top of the house price league include St Olave's and St Saviour's Grammar School in Orpington, Kent - ranked as the second best state school in the UK - as well as 10th-placed Queen Elizabeth's School in north London, which both saw average asking prices within the catchment area exceed twice the national average.
Overall, the average asking price of a house near one of Britain's top 50 state schools is currently £298,378 - 35 per cent higher than the UK average price of £221,110, said estate agent PrimeLocation.
And for those unable to buy, the average monthly rent of £944 is 7.8 per cent higher in the catchment areas of the best state schools than in the UK as a whole.
But bucking the trend is the catchment area around top state school Bishop Wordsworth's in Salisbury, Wiltshire, where property costs on average £286,112, below the national mean.
Nigel Lewis, property analyst at PrimeLocation.com, said: "For many years now the challenges of the catchment area-based lottery for state schools have vexed millions of parents across the UK, and our research highlights how much it can cost to get your child into the ideal school.
"However, prices are not always indicative of performance, with Bishop Wordsworth's Grammar in Salisbury ranking as the top state school in Britain and also boasting relatively modest average house prices of around £286,000."