The story is that house prices rose 0.1% since December 4 and January 7. Okay - nothing particularly significant there. But what the newspaper headline writers are getting all excited about is the detail that, after a typically dead December, prices rose 0.9% in the first week of January... rewarding the typical British homeowner with an extra £2,000 to spend in the sales. Obviously, the whole thing's a load of nonsense. The Rightmove figure is based on asking prices - so if this does reflect any significant move, it could easily be a tidal wave of overpriced properties flooding the New Year market... which isn't good news for anybody. But the kids love it.