Members of the public accounts select committee said the Department for Education (DfE) is spending "well over the odds" on its plan to create 500 more free schools by 2020.
Free schools are also being set up without regard for local shortages, leaving some with significant spare capacity, said the committee's report into capital funding for schools, which in 2015/16 totalled £4.5bn.
On average the DfE was paying 19 per cent more than the official valuation for free school sites, with 20 sites costing 60 per cent more.
At the same time capital funding is not being used effectively to improve the poor condition of many existing schools, the report said.
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