Renting may increase school admission chances

Parents in search for a home near a school of their choice may not need buy within the neighbourhood in order to increase their children's chance of being accepted. Sometimes, it would be better to just rent the property, according to a commentary in the media. The distance of one's home to a school could affect a childs chances of admission and the median psf prices of private homes in the neighbourhoods within two kilometre of the city-states 190 primary school ranges between $700 and $1,824. For instance, a 1,000 sq ft apartment near River Valley Primary School carries a median price of over $1.8 million, while homes located near Radin Mas Primary School, Singapores most popular school in terms of take-up rates, go for over $1.5 million. However, if buying within the neighbourhood of the primary school would not make sense, then parents could consider instead. The report said median psf rentals for homes located within the neighbourhoods of the 190 primary school range from $2.17 to $5.08. This works out to a monthly rent of between $2,170 and $5,080 for a 1,000 sq ft unit. In fact, renting may prove to be financially more viable for a young family. Notably, data show the median price of a four-bedroom Housing Board flat in Bishan stood at $518,000 in June, or about one-third the price of a private apartment near Radin Mas Primary School. The family can choose to rent out the Bishan flat for the median rent of $2,500 and then rent a 1,000 sq ft apartment near Radin Mas Primary for $4,630. The difference in the two rents, which is $2,130 per month, is the property cost for sending the child to said school. Muneerah Bee, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories emailmuneerah@propertyguru.com.sg Related Stories: EcoHouse Closes Its SG Office Jervois Road GCB Sold For $18.8m Singapore's Prime Prices Dip 7.7%

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