London’s top schools attract pupils from all over the world, with families keen to move to prime areas in order to secure an excellent education for their children, and therefore property prices respond to the resulting demand. In this episode of the podcast, Winkworth’s Chief Executive Dominic Agace discusses the situation with Melanie Sanderson, managing editor of The Good Schools Guide and Donovan Kelly of Winkworth’s Barnes office.

Agace says: “Which comes first – the prime area or the school? Just look around London where the famous schools are and the neighbourhoods are equally famous – St Paul’s in Barnes, Highgate School, the American School in St John’s Wood. These are internationally renowned schools so it’s not only domestic demand that’s supporting property within these areas, it’s also high net worth families relocating to London from overseas.  There are streets where people rent to try to wait for a house to come up for sale. Availability is really the issue. There aren’t the houses coming up for sale in these areas.” This means that regardless of mortgage rates or property values, properties in education hotspots remain desirable and will perform well all the time.