ON the face of it, news reported in this paper that reveals how house prices are recovering strongly in Southampton should bring new year cheer.

It was not so long ago, after all, that house price depression was a symptom of a wider economic malaise.

With Southampton recording a rise last year of 11 per cent, greater than the average for the UK, it is yet another sign that the local economy is improving. However we should be wary of these figures.

The government’s Help to Buy Scheme has prompted a number of new buyers into the property market by reducing the size of the down payment needed to achieve a mortgage.

Good news for those buying homes now, but will such a measure mean higher house prices knock other would-be buyers out of the market altogether?

In the end, the answer to prices rising too steeply is probably not mortgage requirements but the building of more homes.

But here it seems every new development proposal is met with local opposition.

How to square this circle is what must challenge our politicians, both at a local and national level.