Why Burnley has the cheapest house prices in England

Burnley may wear the crown as the cheapest place in England and Wales to buy a home – but a look behind the glitzy title reveals sinister reasons why.

The Lancashire town with a population of around 80,000 boasts four out of five of the cheapest streets; according to property web site Mouseprice.

Prices average £32,400 on the road with the lowest prices – Angle Street – and one home there switched owners for just £26,500 in 2010.

A quick look at the property market as reported by the local Lancashire Telegraph, reveals a town with areas riddled with poverty, drugs and crime.

Property agent Mark Bailey has just sold a portfolio of 18 repossessed buy to lets in Burnley.

He told the Telegraph: “The market is tricky and we believe 2011 will continue to be challenging. Deals are being done but they are still at a much lower level than two years ago. It is a very tough process.”

A comment on the story by Dave Burnley reads: “I expect these will join the burgeoning ‘For Let’ houses we see scattered everywhere.

“It’s so sad because it takes the pride and heart out of areas when you get houses occupied by people who don’t care about what they do because they know that they will be moved on in a few months time when they don’t pay the rent.”

The paper has also reported residents protesting over derelict terraces that have become rubbish tips infested with rats.

This week, a drugs baron, who threatened to petrol bomb the homes of policemen, was jailed for four years while police have arrested 38 people on suspicion of burglary and theft in the town since March 1st.

Some of these alleged offenders lived in homes on the cheap streets.

Fernhill, Mountain Ash, near Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, is the second cheapest street in the list with house prices averaging £32,700.

The other top five roads are Elmwood Street, Spencer Street and Colville Street, Burnley, all with average property prices of less than £40,000.

Five streets in the top 20 are in the North East, two are in Wales, but none are from the south.

The average cost of a property on the 10 cheapest streets in London is £106,110, with Arthur Street, Bexley, Kent, coming in with the cheapest homes in the capital at £99,900.

The most expensive street, according to another Mouseprice survey, is Victoria Road, Kensington, London, with an average property price of £6.4 million.

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