ROCKETING house prices are a flawed element in the feel-good factor - providing only gains on paper for owners who stay put and steep above-inflation payments for those who buy.
But they are a sure measure of economic confidence and them booming today in Blackburn and Darwen, in contrast to them staying sluggish elsewhere in Lancashire, is a sign of the area's regeneration.
It is also, as the Council points out, a gauge of the beneficial impact that the extension of the M65 has had - just as this newspaper always said it would.
Where do the doubters dwell now?
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