Official house prices figures from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister now show a slowing growth in the way mortgage lenders had been noticing. UK annual house price inflation in May 2005 was 6.0 per cent, down from 6.9 per cent in April 2005.

The government index is based on an enlarged sample of completions data (about 25,000 per month) from about 50 mortgage lenders who supply data through the Survey of Mortgage Lenders, but lags the main commentators such as Halifax and Nationwide.

Annual house price inflation in London was 1.6 per cent in May 2005, down from 2.7 per cent in April 2005.

The mix-adjusted average house price in the UK in May 2005 stood at £182,651, up from £181,832 in April 2005 (not seasonally adjusted).

The UK annual house price inflation rate for the 3 months to May 2005 was 8.4 per cent and 4.6 per cent in London.

 The rise in UK prices between April and May can be largely attributed to rises in the prices of terraced and detached houses which both rose by 1.0 per cent. Prices for flats remained constant, with average bungalow and semi-detached prices falling by 0.9 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.

All the home countries saw a fall in annual inflation in May. The inflation rate in England fell from 6.0 per cent in April to 5.3 per cent in May. Over the same period, in Wales the rate fell from 15.9 per cent to 13.8 per cent; in Scotland the rate fell from 14.3 per cent to 11.8 per cent; and in Northern Ireland the fall was from 10.7 per cent to 9.3 per cent.

House price inflation fell in all regions except Yorkshire & the Humber between April and May.

The highest inflation rates in England remain in the north, in Yorkshire & the Humber (12.3 per cent), North West (12.2 per cent), North East (11.1 per cent). Inflation rates in West Midlands and East Midlands are currently 8.6 and 7.1 per cent respectively.

Inflation was between 3 and 4 per cent in the East, South East and South West regions. The lowest inflation rate is in London, where inflation fell from 2.7 per cent in April to 1.6 per cent in May.

House prices: regional

Mix-adjusted average house prices in May were £191,623 in England, £147,077 in Wales, £124,422 in Scotland and £125,321 in Northern Ireland.

The English region with the highest average house price in May remains London at £264,505. The region with the lowest average price was the North East at £130,474.

Only the East, London, South East and the South West had average prices above the UK average.

House price inflation: type of buyer

The UK house price inflation rate for first time buyers fell from 9.8 per cent in April to 7.7 per cent in May. This was due to a rise of only 0.1 per cent in prices between April and May in the properties bought by first time buyers, compared with a rise of 2.0 per cent seen over the same period last year.

The inflation rate for former owner-occupiers fell from 5.8 per cent in April to 5.4 per cent in May. This was due to a rise of only 0.6 per cent in prices between April and May in the properties bought by former owner occupiers, compared with a rise of 0.9 per cent over the same period last year.

The average price paid by first time buyers across the whole of the UK was £150,259 in May, while the average price paid by former owner-occupiers was £197,313.