Home Prices in Top-Rated High Schools Follow or Exceed National Trends
It’s no secret that access to top-notch schools has long been — and still is — a major priority for homebuyers with kids. According to the National Association of Realtors’ 2022 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report, nearly one-quarter of survey respondents said that the quality of a school district influenced their home purchase decision. For buyers between the ages of 32 and 41, that number ticked up to 40%.
Buyers will probably wonder how the school district in their new neighborhood affects how much they’ll pay for a home, and sellers doubtlessly consider this factor when setting a list price.
Home Prices in Top-Rated High Schools Follow or Exceed National Trends
According to CoreLogic’s latest Home Price Index, U.S. home prices increased by 18.3% year over year in June, the 125th consecutive month of annual gains. Historic HPI data show that home prices have grown by double digits year over year each month since February 2021. So how are home prices faring in neighborhoods that offer access to some of the best high schools in the country?
CoreLogic home price statistics for ZIP codes of the top high schools, as defined by the U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 rankings, show that perhaps unsurprisingly, appreciation is healthy in nearby neighborhoods. Eight of the 10 top-ranked high school ZIP codes posted double-digit annual appreciation between May and July 2022 from one year earlier (information was not available for two of these ZIP codes.)
It turns out that the nation’s No. 1-ranked high school also had the highest home prices of any ZIP code CoreLogic examined. Located in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Alexandria, VA, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology received perfect overall and college readiness scores. In Alexandria’s 22312 ZIP code, the median sales price for combined single-family homes and condos was $625,000 between May and July of this year, up 10.7% from the same period in 2021.
Two cities in the Southeast with access to top-performing high schools also showed large gains in annual home price appreciation, led by Murfreesboro, TN, with a population of 150,000 and located 40 minutes from Nashville. Murfreesboro’s 37130 ZIP code, the location of the No. 7-ranked Central Magnet School, saw its $368,000 median sales price grow by 32.6% year over year.
Located about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta, Lawrenceville, GA, is home to the No.9-ranked Gwinnet School of Mathematics, Science and Technology. With a median sales price of $356,000, Lawrenceville’s 30044 ZIP code posted an annual home price appreciation of 25.3% from May through July of 2021.
Other ZIP codes with top-rated high schools saw annual price growth that ranged from 15.9% (Miami’s 33176) to 10.5% (Philadelphia’s 19130). The least expensive ZIP code with a top-10 high school was Dallas’s 75203, where the median sales price was $258,000 between May and July of this year.
Excellent high schools not only affect home prices and growth, but so do large universities.
Western Cities With Large Colleges Post Sizable Price Gains This Summer
Purchasing real estate near a bustling college city is a popular tactic for investors but also with parents who may want to buy a place for their children to live that has appreciation potential.
Examining home prices around U.S. colleges with the largest on-campus populations is difficult. This is in part because most of these universities are so large that they have their own ZIP codes and lack residential property stock. Still, the home price data available for these colleges lines up with trends CoreLogic has observed so far in 2022.
According to Statista data for 2019 (the last year on-campus population data was available before the COVID-19 pandemic), Arizona State University, Tempe has the nation’s fifth-largest on-campus undergraduate population, with nearly 45,000 students. The median home sales price in Tempe’s 85281 ZIP code, which includes the university, was $452,000 between May and July of this year, up 22% on an annual basis.
CoreLogic’s June HPI shows that Phoenix posted 26.1% growth, the largest year-over-year home price gain of the 10 metro areas that our company tracks in that report. Arizona had the third-highest price increase of all states in June, up 24.9% from the same period in 2021.
Six-hundred miles to the north of Tempe is Orem’s Utah Valley University, with more than 41,000 undergraduate students in 2019. The city’s 84058 ZIP code saw the median sales price grow by 17% year over year from May to July, to reach $493,000.
As is the case with other Mountain-West states, Utah has experienced significant annual home price growth, matching the national average of 18.3% in June. A recent CoreLogic analysis noted that Mountain-West states are growing in popularity with homebuyers, thanks to the region’s income growth, relatively healthy inventory conditions and affordability compared to pricey West Coast markets.
Study Up on the Latest, Most Accurate Housing Price Data
Whether you’re intent on buying a home in the best school district or trying to trade up properties due to other life changes, it’s important to stay up to date on the latest market conditions.
CoreLogic’s Home Price Index, published on the first Tuesday of every month, offers highly accurate data about current and historic home price trends on a national, statewide and metro level. Prospective homebuyers and sellers can rely on CoreLogic’s data to help them make the best decision when making one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives.
