House prices rise!!!

Well there's a headline you thought you'd never see.
Don't get too excited though.
Today's Nationwide building society House Price Index shows that in March average house prices rose by a thumping, massive, enormous, eye-watering...0.9%
The reason why you have to take a figure like this with a pinch of salt is that it's based on only one month's numbers. Basic rules of statistics say you need at least three to be sure there's a trend underway.
But...this is the first time in 16 months (i.e., since October 2007) that house prices have registered anything other than a drop, which is an achievement in itself.
They come on the back of the stats I mentioned earlier this week that suggest a surge in buyer interest is finally translating into rising sales.
They come on a day in which the Bank of England has indicated it expects the amount of credit available to improve during the next three months.
It is way, way too early to suggest this means the worst of our economic woes are over. Banks are still nursing huge losses, all of the major economies are struggling, and unemployment – what's known as a 'lagging indicator' – will continue rising long after the recession appears to be easing.
Our economy is still too fragile and too exposed to global problems to simply pick itself up, dust itself off and get motoring again.
So what do these consistent suggestions of a mild housing recovery mean?
What we might be seeing here is some early, tentative evidence that some of the measures that the Bank of England has taken to try to stimulate the economy are starting to take effect.
This might put a little bit of confidence back into some parts of the economy.
Like I say, don't get too excited by today's figures: one month's rise of 0.9% could easily be followed by a fall.
But it's better than a poke in the eye I suppose.