Rich splash out to be near the best schools

WEALTHY foreigners have spent £2bn in the past year on high-end London property so they can be near their children at top private schools and universities.

Parents from overseas are buying up houses to use as a base to look for schools or to visit their sons and daughters during term time, a survey by estate agent Knight Frank found. The families are mostly from Hong Kong, mainland China and Russia.

Respondents said their biggest motivations are quality of education, a school’s prestige and its ability to help children get a top job or attend a famous university.

After the UK, the Us was the next most popular place for foreigners to send children to school. Canada and other EU countries came a distant joint third.

Liam Bailey, of Knight Frank, said: ‘The majority of overseas buyers appear unconcerned by the impact that Brexit may have on the UK as a place to educate their children and there have even been signs that it has become more attractive to some in the past 12 months.’