St Louis has some top rated public school districts cranking out kids with high GPA’s but also has some districts facing real challenges, the most recent of which being the Normandy School District. I think most people agree that the quality of the schools has an impact on home values in that district as demand to be in the top districts is thought to help protect home values but to what extent?
St. Louis has school districts at the top, as well as the bottom, of the list.
To address this question I decided to take a look at the top ranked St Louis area districts as well as the lowest ranked ones and then see how home prices in those areas have performed in the past five years to see if there a distinct difference. According to School Digger, which rates school districts based upon the most recent test scores, the Lindbergh School district is the top local district, ranked #3 in the state, followed by Clayton, ranked #6. At the other end of the list is Riverview Gardens, ranked 526th out of 534 school districts. Normandy was the 2nd worst ranked school district, coming in at #517 on the list.
Home prices in the top districts.
The Lindbergh School District includes Crestwood and Sunset Hills, both of which, as the chart below shows, have seen stable home prices in the past 5 years. Home prices in Crestwood declined 3.5 percent from September 2008 to September 2013 and Sunset Hills home prices are presently at about the same as 5 years ago.
Home prices in the bottom districts:
The Riverview Gardens and Normandy areas did not see home prices do as well over the past five years with declines of 41 percent and 32 percent respectively.
Relationship between school districts and home prices.
While there are no doubt other factors that affect home prices, the charts and data above clearly shows the relationship between the quality of the school district and home prices. I guess the reverse argument could be made that declining home values brought on by other neighborhood factors ultimately drag the school district down with it, but that’s a discussion for another day.
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