The average property price in England and Wales is now £172,035, closing in on the peak of £181,518 recorded in November 2007.
This figure represents a 0.4% rise on the previous month with house prices up 6.7% since May 2013.
The region in England and Wales which experienced the greatest increase in its average property value over the last 12 months is London with a growth of 18.5%.
North East saw the lowest annual price growth with a movement of 0.9%.
However, not all regions have benefitted from growing house prices with Yorkshire & the Humber posting a monthly price fall of 0.9%.
In total during May the Land Registry received 72,450 residential property registrations, ranging from £7,000 to £39m.
Nicholas Ayre, managing director of buying agency Home Fusion, said: “The London market powers onwards, according to the Land Registry, with double-digit growth. But agents suggest that sentiment is changing as buyers are taking more time to consider a purchase before taking the plunge.
“Mark Carney has made it clear that interest rates will go up sooner rather than later so buyers are rightly asking whether they can they afford the property now and also in a year’s time when rates could be higher. Even a 0.25 percentage point rise will make a difference: it may not sound like much but that’s a 50% jump from where we are now so it needs to be taken seriously.”
Jeremy Duncombe, director of Legal & General Mortgage Club, said: “The only way that we can build a sustainable and balanced housing market is by building more homes and all efforts must be made to get builders building.”
