School judgements and house prices: what the numbers show
Ofsted ratings and property prices tell different stories. We look at eight postcode districts where school performance and median prices sit side by side, without claiming one causes the other.
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When families search for a new home, two questions often surface together: what are the schools like, and what will a house cost? Both matter. Both shape decisions. Yet they measure entirely different things. Ofsted judgements reflect inspection outcomes at a moment in time. Median house prices capture what buyers recently paid. Neither one explains the other, but viewing them side by side helps build a fuller picture of a neighbourhood.
We have gathered data from eight postcode districts across England, recorded on 27th August 2026. Each pair of figures shows the share of rated schools judged Good or Outstanding, the number of schools inspected, and the median house price in that district. The sample is not national, so no claim is made about rankings across the whole country. What follows is simply what the numbers reveal in these eight places.
Two districts with perfect inspection records
BH18, which falls under Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, has 16 rated schools. Every one of them holds a Good or Outstanding judgement. The median house price in the district stands at £480,000. Across the country in Buckinghamshire, SL7 also reports a 100 per cent share. Nine schools have been rated, and all meet the Good or Outstanding threshold. The median price here is £650,000, the highest in the sample.
These two districts share identical inspection outcomes, yet their property markets differ by £170,000. The contrast underlines that school performance and house prices do not move in lockstep. Location, housing stock, transport links and local employment all play a role in what buyers will pay. The inspection results offer one signal. The price data offers another.
HighlightBH18 and SL7 both achieve 100 per cent Good or Outstanding ratings, yet their median house prices differ by £170,000, showing that school judgements and property values are distinct measures.
Milton Keynes and the mid-market band
MK9 in Milton Keynes presents a different profile. The district has 28 rated schools, the largest sample in this group. Of those, 92.9 per cent are judged Good or Outstanding. The median house price is £240,938, placing it in the lower half of the range. Despite a strong school performance share and a sizeable sample, the property market here sits well below the figures recorded in BH18, WD3 and SL7.
This pattern suggests that even where school ratings are consistently high, median prices can remain moderate. Milton Keynes has grown rapidly over recent decades, with large housing estates and a younger building stock. Prices in newer developments often reflect different dynamics compared to older market towns or coastal districts. The school data tells one story. The housing market tells another.
Three neighbouring districts in Sandwell
B66, B67 and B68 all sit within Sandwell in the West Midlands. The three districts share a local authority and show broadly similar school performance figures. B66 has 59 rated schools, with 83.1 per cent judged Good or Outstanding. The median house price is £180,000. B67 has 49 rated schools, an 81.6 per cent share, and a median price of £209,000. B68 has 45 rated schools, an 82.2 per cent share, and a median price of £227,500.
The school performance shares cluster tightly, all above 81 per cent. Yet the median prices climb steadily from B66 to B68, a difference of £47,500 across three neighbouring postcodes. Even within a single local authority, property values can vary by tens of thousands of pounds. School judgements remain stable, but the housing market responds to factors beyond inspection outcomes.
A small sample in Somerset
BA5 in Somerset offers the smallest sample: four rated schools. Two are judged Good or Outstanding, giving a 50 per cent share. The median house price is £328,500. The small sample size means that a single school changing its rating would shift the percentage significantly. This is not a criticism of the schools or the district. It is simply a reminder that percentages based on small numbers can be volatile.
The median price in BA5 sits between the lower figures in Sandwell and the higher figures in WD3 and SL7. The district falls within a rural local authority, where housing stock and market conditions differ from urban centres. The school data provides a snapshot, but it is only one piece of information among many.
WD3 and the Three Rivers context
WD3 lies within Three Rivers in Hertfordshire. The district has 17 rated schools, with 88.2 per cent judged Good or Outstanding. The median house price is £625,000. This is the second highest figure in the sample, behind only SL7. The school performance share is strong, though not perfect, and the property market reflects the district's proximity to London and the wider South East housing pressures.
WD3 demonstrates that a district can have a handful of schools rated below Good or Outstanding and still command high property prices. The housing market here is shaped by commuter demand, transport links and local amenities, not solely by school inspection outcomes. Buyers weigh many factors, and school judgements are just one.
What the paired data tells us
Across these eight districts, the share of schools rated Good or Outstanding ranges from 50 per cent in BA5 to 100 per cent in BH18 and SL7. Median house prices span from £180,000 in B66 to £650,000 in SL7. The two measures do not track each other neatly. High school performance shares appear alongside both high and moderate prices. Lower shares appear alongside moderate prices. The relationship is not linear.
This is not surprising. Ofsted judgements reflect curriculum quality, leadership, behaviour and safeguarding at the time of inspection. Median house prices reflect supply, demand, location, transport, employment, housing type and buyer sentiment. The two data sets sit in different domains. They inform different questions. Viewing them together helps, but neither one predicts the other.
Using the data responsibly
Readers should treat these figures as starting points, not final answers. The sample is not national, so no district can claim a UK-wide ranking from this data. The school performance shares reflect inspections up to 27th August 2026, and judgements can change. Median prices reflect market activity on the same date, and markets move. A district with a lower share of Good or Outstanding schools may have new leadership, recent improvements or schools awaiting re-inspection.
Similarly, a high median price does not guarantee that every property in the district is expensive, nor does a lower median price mean that bargains are plentiful. The median is the middle value, with half of sales above it and half below. Individual properties vary widely in size, condition and location within a postcode district.
The purpose of pairing school judgements and house prices is to offer context, not to imply causation. Families can use the information to understand what recent buyers have paid and what inspection outcomes look like in a given area. They can then ask further questions, visit schools, explore neighbourhoods and make decisions based on a fuller set of facts. The numbers are a guide, not a verdict.
bythenumbers provides general information from published open data. It is not financial, legal, survey or property valuation advice, and figures may be out of date or incomplete. Always check anything that matters to your decision directly with the relevant authority.
