The year-on-year increase reflected growth of 2.6% in England and 3.5% in Wales, which was offset by declines in Scotland and Northern Ireland of 1.0% and 10.3% each. House prices in London rose by 7.2%.

Prices of new dwellings rose by 6.2% during the 12 months to May 2012, while the price of pre-owned dwellings increased by 2.0%.

Nick Hopkinson, director of PPR Estates, said: “All houses are different and the mix of sales in any month makes comparatives very dubious at such low volumes.

“The ONS data only includes mortgaged sales from a sample of the market; the dysfunctional mortgage market distorts the data comparatives even more as the banks decline to lend to all but the most creditworthy borrowers who are likely to be buying above average priced properties. In this context, this latest report calculating average prices is simply an ‘analysts’ field day’ and doesn’t really help anyone understand the current state of the UK property market.

“Everyone knows house prices (in real terms) are falling almost everywhere at the moment except the most expensive London postcodes.”

Yesterday, research from Rightmove showed that asking prices in July are on the way down as desperate sellers struggle to get offers. 

“The Olympics won’t be awarding any Gold medals to the UK housing market this summer.”

For more on UK house prices, click HERE