For those of us who are parents, the right school for our children is at the top of the priority list. Close to the top of that list is our home.
For parents, schools and homes go hand-in-hand. We relocate to homes close to our children’s schools. Popular schools can drive up nearby property prices. Therefore, we work to own homes in neighbourhoods that will allow our children to go to the right schools.
For those who are parents of rising Primary One students, these are anxious times. The Ministry of Education (MOE) is in the midst of its “2014 Primary One Registration Exercise for Admission to Primary One in 2015.”
MOE spells out its registration procedures on its website. In summary, the primary schools admit students in three phases (with multiple sub-phases) that take place in July and August. Students are eligible for the early phases of admission if they have siblings at the school, parents who are alumni, or families with special relationships to the school of choice.
If the number of applications to a primary school exceeds the number of vacancies during phases two or three, the school fills the vacancies based on home-school distance in order of the following priority: (1) within 1 km; (2) between 1km and 2km; and (3) outside 2km. For example, if two Singapore citizens were competing for one spot, the one who lived within one km would be admitted over the one who lived 1.5 km away.
It’s this home-school distance criteria that links property to schools.
Over the course of the next few columns, we will highlight the relationship between schools, property prices, and rents as analysed by the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX).
To kick off this analysis, we crunched the price-per-square foot at 2km (2km PSF) for Singapore’s 190 MOE primary schools. We then ranked the Top 10 most popular schools according to occupancy rate as of Phase 2A (2) and calculated their 2km PSF.
We found that the average 2km PSF of the Top 10 is 20% more expensive than that of all 190 primary schools, $1,198 versus $ 995 PSF, respectively.
However, the neighbourhood PSF of three schools fall below the national average. At a 2km PSF of $940, Ai Tong School is the bargain neighbourhood of the Top 10 Popular Primary Schools. This school is located in District 20 (D20) and has a PSF rank of 95 out of 190 primary schools.
Six of the Top 10 Popular Primary Schools ranked in the top quartile in terms of 2km PSF areas, while four place into the second quartile.
For those parents who will enter the admission process next year, it’s not too early to start planning. If you will need to move to be near the school of your choice, you can visit srx.com.sg/research to find the 2km PSF for each of the 190 primary schools.
This article originally appeared in Today newspaer as "Homes near top schools at a premium, but bargains exist".