It pays to own a house near a highly-rated state school, even if you don’t have children.

Some factors influencing local property values will never change. Being close to the countryside is one of them, being not too far from a railway station is another but the cherry on the cake for families are the state schools with reputations to rival the best in the country.

A property market report by Lloyds Bank in 2018 covering the previous five years revealed that house prices close to top notch primary and secondary schools had risen almost twice as fast as property values in places without the advantage of a successful school in the vicinity.

At the time of the Lloyds report two years ago the average cost of a house in Beaconsfield was 149 per cent or £609,887 above the average for the county as a whole.

Property market analysts at Zoopla credited the girls’ grammar school in Wattleton Road (Becky High as locals call it) for helping to boost house prices in the town.

The level of competition for houses in south Bucks has increased in recent years.

One of the reasons why prices in Beaconsfield are among the most expensive outside London is due to the quality of the state schools.

The retention of selective education in Bucks has provided an alternative for families who might otherwise have been tempted to go private if they could afford to.

Recent events have swelled the number buying houses here.

Since the beginning of this year when the virus took hold, working from home in a green environment part of the week has become the New Normal.

With 60 per cent of offices moving towards remote working on a permanent basis, searches on the Rightmove website for properties down the line from the main London rail stations have increased 51 per cent since lockdown restrictions were eased.

Add to that the number of Londoners looking for a house close to the green belt with more space inside and out and you can believe it when estate agents tell you their phones are ringing off the hook.

One of the 10 most popular property hotspots in Bucks for first time buyers using the Help to Buy incentive scheme is Milton Keynes.

The average price of a home in MK was £257,638 when the findings were published last month. The north Bucks town on the border with Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire was second only to Central Bedfordshire in the table compiled by Money.co.uk. The journey time into central London from Milton Keynes is 33 minutes.

At the other end of the price range, the average asking price for a three bedroom house in Beaconsfield listed on home.co.uk on Tuesday this week was £774,450. Buyers had a choice of 56 three-bed houses to choose from.

Typical price for a similar sized house in Amersham was £675,797 - 35 to choose from here.

Dr Challoner’s (Boys) Grammar School and the Chiltern Line station into Marylebone are two of the attractions for movers to Amersham.

Average price on Tuesday for a three bedroom house in Chesham was £492,581 (62 properties of this size for sale). Chesham is on the edge of beautiful countryside. The other major plus is co-ed Chesham High School.

Wycombe has three single sex grammar schools that attract families: Wycombe High (girls), the Royal Grammar School (boys) and John Hampden (boys). Buyers this week have a choice of 159 three bedroom houses . The average price is £378,658.

Over in Marlow, the river provides the town with a holiday atmosphere all year round but it’s the local schools both primary and secondary for pupils of all abilities that provide the incentive for families to put down roots. Sir William Borlase and Great Marlow School would have waiting lists the length of the Thames towpath if these top flight local academies were in the private sector.

The average price for a three bed house in Marlow this week is £695,423. There were 63 on agents’ books.

Pictured is a five-bedroom three-bathroom townhouse on a parkland development built by Charles Church in the late 1990s on the former Wethered brewery site less than a third of a mile from Marlow high street and the river.

The house for sale through Savills for £1.675m, has its own private walled garden.