This month's house price report from Halifax points up an unexpected pattern of movement in the local house market.

Canvey house prices rocketed by 15 per cent in the period under review. Yet during the same space of time, they fell in Leigh. This, of course, was at a time when average prices across the UK were rising fast.

The dip in Leigh, for years the darling of the Essex property market and a place that personified the word sought-after, can be viewed as a temporary blip.

Conversely, saturation point may have been reached. It is possible that Leigh's very popularity could be telling against it, as purchasers back away from what they perceive as an overcrowded location with a notorious shortage of parking.

Meanwhile, Canvey's image and desirability are clearly changing fast as a new generation with new perceptions of the island move in.

Those not directly involved as vendors, purchasers or property professionals, can watch with fascination at the seismic shifts taking place in the Essex property landscape.

For those in the thick of the property game, the figures are confirmation that property prices, once the safest of bets, are becoming as hard to predict as the weather.

ESSEX County Council's latest method for beating snow and ice on the roads is treacle.

The theory is the sticky stuff binds together grit, giving it more staying power.

There is another advantage as well, at least for anyone stranded in their car during a heavy snowfall.

They can survive by eating the road.