EVER get fed up of hearing about the north-south divide? Well perhaps you should take a closer look, because what emerges is a very different picture.

According to the Nationwide Building Society, the average house price in England is £170,111, while in Yorkshire and the Humber it’s £157,959. Not much of a difference you might think, but what is interesting is the way the figures are calculated, because here it’s more like a north-north divide.

Let’s start with two identical properties; one in York, the other in Hull. No prizes for guessing which will be the most expensive, but it may surprise you to learn that the one in York would cost twice as much.

Or how about a family house in the centre of Harrogate? Well, you’ll need deep pockets and about £1 million to play with; more like £2 million if it’s detached.

But in the mill towns of West Yorkshire there are hundreds of back-to-backs. The ones boarded-up in deprived areas are worthless, while those in better locations go for around £40,000. Hardly enough for a deposit in York.

So it doesn’t take a mathematician to work out that with such disparate housing stock, the averages are going to be hugely distorted and that is how one of the north-south divide myths is perpetuated.

Don’t believe me? Well there are no back-to-backs in Esher to drag down the index and at first sight the Surrey town appears more expensive than any in North Yorkshire. Not necessarily true; a reasonable two-bedroomed flat there will set you back about £250,000, as it will in York and Harrogate, and most of the latter’s apartments are more likely to set you back at least a third as much again, despite the stated average of £146,000 – and when did you last see one that cheap?

Then there are social issues; the other north-south divide myth. Apparently it’s grim up north. Well not as grim as in parts of London where five local authorities have the highest levels of jobless in the country and almost half of the boroughs are listed in the 50 most deprived local authorities in the land. Further south, and Hastings in East Sussex has similar concentrations of child poverty to Tower Hamlets in London and Sheffield.

The divide is of course real enough, but it’s not a simple case of geography, and we can see this on our own doorstep by comparing Bradford with its affluent neighbour, Leeds.

There’s always been a rivalry between the two and in the heyday of the wool trade Bradford was way out in front. Now, a running joke is that the city centre is a hole; literally. The recession has put paid to a master plan for its regeneration, which lies in tatters alongside demolished buildings that were supposed to be replaced by a big new shopping centre. Instead they have been replaced by big new holes and there are doubts whether the Phoenix will ever rise as Leeds continues to prosper.

And it’s a similar picture all over the country. Take the Mile Cross district in Norwich which is home to 31,000 people and includes some of the most deprived areas in England. Drive a few miles and you come across Norwich city centre which in every respect is similar to well-heeled York.

Drug abuse, criminal damage and antisocial behaviour are no respecters of geography. While there’s grinding poverty in Liverpool and Manchester, if you want to find some of the worst unemployment blackspots in England, head for the south coast. And while you are there take a look at leafy Fareham which overlooks Portsmouth harbour. This is staunch Tory territory and Labour doesn’t even hold a council seat, but behind the façade, a joint project between the council and church is converting a former off-licence into a drop-in centre. Why? Because it’s in Fareham Park in the north-west of the borough, one of the most deprived regions in the country and in the worst five per cent in terms of jobs and skills.

You can’t get further south than Cornwall which, despite its reputation as a millionaire’s playground, is one of the poorest areas in Britain, and one of only four areas in the UK to qualify for poverty-related grants from the EU.

It’s always been a habit for southerners to cock a snook at those of us who live in the wilds of North Yorkshire. But when their jobs are relocated to God’s own county it must come as a bit of a shock to discover the truth.

North-south divide? I don’t think so.