While annual growth continued upwards, monthly property price inflation remained stagnant, rising just 0.7% in May following a 0.4% increase in April.
The average UK house price was £209,505 in May, with a rise of 1.7% recorded in the quarter ending that month. This is down from the 2.9% growth for the quarter ending February 2010.
The annual average house price paid by a first-time buyer in May this year fell slightly to 11.6%, while the average price paid by former owner-occupiers was 10.8% higher up from 9.3% in April. First-time buyers now pay on average £154,738 compared to £243,267 for previous house owners.
While the average annual English house price rose to 11.7%, other regions saw more modest gains of 3.7% in Scotland, 10.9% in Wales and a fall of 1.1% in Northern Ireland.
Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), said: “These statistics add to uncertainty about the current state of the residential market. The 0.7% gain recorded in May on this series is stronger than the increase suggested by the Nationwide for the same month and contrasts with the declines reported by Halifax and the Land Registry.
“This divergence in part reflects the fact that the indices are gathering price data at different points in the house purchase process. However, relatively low transaction volumes may also be adding to the volatility of the individual series.”
He said that RICS own figures suggested that price growth will turn negative in the second half of the year as new instructions outstripped buyer interest and added: “The regional dimension is likely to remain significant, however. Price expectations are still positive in London, the South East, Scotland and the East Midlands but strongly negative in Wales, East Anglia and much of Northern England.”
