WAHEY! House prices in the North are at long last rising ahead of the South, trumpeted the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) yesterday. It is the first time in 30 years that this phenomenon has been noticed.

But really, this is only good news for those who make a percentage profit out of house prices.

For the rest of us, although it undoubtedly boosts our ego to say we are living in a hugely-expensive house, the news is either meaningless or bad.

It is meaningless because all house prices have risen by an average of ten per cent in the North-East. You may be able to sell your house for ten per cent more than you could three months ago, but you'll have to buy your next house for ten per cent more than you would three months ago. It is all swings and roundabouts.

And it is bad for first time buyers because, to get onto even the lowest rung of the property ladder, they will now have to save ten per cent as hard.

The RICS also said that, although foot-and-mouth will have a dampening effect on rural sales, there will be little long-lasting effect. This, too, was supposed to be good news.

However, as rural areas are already struggling to provide enough affordable houses for first-time buyers from their own communities, this too is bad news. House prices will continue to drive the young away from rural areas even though, with average age of farmers being 58, it is the rural areas that badly need young people to live in them.

The rise is also not especially good for the economy as a whole. With wages rising at about four per cent, a ten per cent rise in house prices means an even bigger proportion of our wages will be owed to the bank - and not spent in the shops on goods and services which create jobs.