Editor's note: Banks are lending again (reluctantly, but still), interest rates are rock bottom and confidence seems to be edging up. And yet, this figure ? a year-on-year increase of 6.9 percent ? is extremely surprising.

If we can believe ooba's stats then not only did house prices grow nominally, but in real terms (i.e. after taking inflation into account) as well.

This is certainly good news, but I remain somewhat sceptical. FNB's August index, released last week, indicated price deflation of more than seven percent on a year-on-year basis, although prices were up when compared to their July levels.

Let's wait for a few other indices before we crack the bottle?