A SMALL part of Burnley has been identified in a national survey as having one of the most desirable addresses in the country.

Buy a house there, says the Sunday Times, and you are virtually guaranteed to make money.

Your neighbours will be company directors. You will be spoilt for choice over the quality of local schools. The average house price is less than half the national average. Unemployment is something that happens to other areas.

The only problem is that this haven for homeowners turns out to be the town centre which is singularly lacking in places to live.

Burnley estate agent Brent Forbes, of Petty & Co, was surprised to be in one of Britain's homes hot spots. "I'm certainly not convinced that Burnley town centre should be near the top of a list like that," he said.

"There is very little residential property in the town centre. The survey's results are very unusual to say the least."

Global information company Experian is standing by the results of its survey led the Burnley postcode BB11 1 being listed 16th out of a league table of 8,080 districts where house prices are poised to go through the roof.

Public relations director Peter Booker said their data had shown "rejuvenated" terraced housing in Curzon Street, Hargreaves Street and St James Row which had all the indications of becoming a fashionable area.

The research for the Sunday Times looked at the key indicators of the economic and social desirability of an area.

Factors included unemployment, the quality of local schools and the number of directors living there.

Experian then studied official house price movements to identify places where property values did not fully reflect the economic and social potential of the district.

Bruno Rost of Experian explained: "Areas with good schools and strong local economies are obviously places where people will want to buy homes.

"Our study identified the areas where everything is in place for a sharp rise in property prices.

"We believe these are the postal districts set to prosper this year."

The Burnley postcode BB11 1 covers the town centre and has as its boundary Westgate, Active Way, Church Street, Centenary Way and Trafalgar Street.

The area is dominated by shops, offices, pubs and other leisure facilities. There are no schools with a BB11 1 postcode and very little private housing.