UK average house prices increased by 12.8% over the year to May 2022, or £32,000.

This marked a rise from annual house price inflation of 11.9% in April 2022.

The average property price has now reached £283,000.

London continues to be the region with the lowest annual growth at 8.2%, while the South West saw the strongest growth, at 16.9%.

House prices are up in all of the home nations rising by:

• 13.1% in England to £302,000
• 14.4% in Wales to £212,000
• 11.2% in Scotland to £188,000
• 10.4% in Northern Ireland to £165,000.

Nicky Stevenson, managing director of estate agency Fine & Country, said: “The U.K. may be flirting with recession but you wouldn’t know it looking at annual house price growth.

“While transaction levels have dipped, the shortage of homes across most of the country remains acute and we are still in the midst of an unprecedented boom. Should the Bank of England make good on its threat to hike interest rates by 50 basis points next month, then we may begin to see a different picture emerge.

“But previous hikes had made little impact so far and this remains a red-hot sellers market with existing homeowners continuing to make big gains and looking to trade-up.”

Iain McKenzie, CEO of The Guild of Property Professionals, agreed: “Any rational person might expect that the cost-of-living crisis would be dragging house prices downwards, but it seems the opposite is happening in the topsy-turvy property market.

“There seems to be no end to the soaring demand for properties that is propelling prices skyward. With rental prices at astronomical levels, it still makes sense for many people to try to get on the property ladder.

“The average home now costs £32,000 more than it did this time last year. With wages falling to keep pace with inflation, lower disposable incomes could make it more difficult for first-time buyers to save for ever larger deposits.”