It’s not just Cockney rhymers who’ve been telling porky pies about where they live to enhance their status. A new survey has flagged up a nation of ‘Hyacinth Buckets’ fixated on postcode status.

Three out of five Britons admitted that they would lie about where they live to make themselves and their neighbourhood sound more upmarket.

Lying about postcode:

• Londoners are the region most likely to lie about their postcode to make their address sound more prestigious with a staggering 42%
• Only 33% of those surveyed in the South East is likely to lie about their postcode to make their address sound more prestigious.
• The South West at 34% surveyed is also lower than the national average of 37% likely to lie about their postcode to make their address sound more prestigious.

And if it means not actually mentioning the postcode, up to 66% would lie about where they lived - saying they lived in areas near to their home to make their addresses sound more exclusive.

The worst excesses for this were in Yorkshire and Humberside although the South East topped 60% with the least at 46% being the East Midlands, 10% lower than the national average.

However, the importance of living in your dream home as against living in your ‘desirable’ location shows a very different picture.

More important to live in a good neighbourhood rather than live in their dream home:

• Londoners think its more important to live in a good neighbourhood rather than live in their dream home with 66% in agreement.
• Yorkshire and Humberside, 78% in agreement.
• The South West, 82% in agreement.
• The South East, 79% in agreement.
• Eastern England, 82% in agreement.
• North East, 76% in agreement.
• North West, 76% in agreement.
• The Welsh, 76% in agreement.
• East Midlands, 71% in agreement.
• West Midlands, 78% in agreement.
• The Scottish, 80% in agreement.

According to the Norwich Union Direct "Power of the Postcode" survey, home location is more important than the actual home itself, with a staggering 77% of the nation preferring to live in a more exclusive neighbourhood than owning their "dream home".

Equation to find the perfect location

As part of Norwich Union Direct’s ongoing research into all aspects of the home, the home insurance specialists commissioned leading home and property psychologist, Jon Gowlland to create an equation to understand what makes a neighbourhood desirable:

A neighbourhood’s desirability is predominantly related to geographical (G) plus social factors (S) – they are the biggest attractions to making an area more desirable to the potential home-buyer.

Of secondary importance and to be taken in to consideration are factors of the home size/value itself (V) and underlying psychological thoughts (P) which draw individuals to a neighbourhood.

"When the factors are added together, the higher the end result, the more desirable the neighbourhood," said Jon.

Jon added: "Therefore, a good neighbourhood is a region with ideal location - in terms of proximity to work, shops, schools and social factors - in terms of being near to friends and family."

"Then, there is the additional consideration for the secondary factors - the underlying psychological aspect such as an area which reminds the individual of a place or earlier home and as the survey highlights the actual home itself is of secondary importance."

On home location being more important than the dream home Gowlland added: "As a nation we’re obsessed with home improvement – evident by the growing number of DIY TV programmes dedicated to it."

"Nowadays we’re aware that we can do something about a home in need of repairs, if we don’t like where a sink is we can move it however, it’s not that easy with home location. The condition of a property is a movable feast but location is a fixed variable."

House Doctor, Ann Maurice, said: "The interesting thing about these findings is that we place more emphasis on our the location of our home, than on having a dream home. It is almost as if the postcode is the new class system."

"Although the snobbery associated with location status may seem fickle, it could reap rewards when asserting your social standing or adding value to your property. Estate agents have been using this tactic for years."