Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said:

"UK house prices edged up 0.2% in May and, as a result, the annual rate of house price growth was little changed at 4.7%, compared with 4.9% in April.

The annual pace of house price growth remains in the fairly narrow range between 3% and 5% that has been prevailing for much of the past twelve months.

In the near term, it's going to be difficult to gauge the underlying strength of activity in the housing market due to the volatility generated by the stamp duty changes which took effect from 1 April.

Indeed, the number of residential property transactions surged to an all-time high in March, some c11% higher than the pre-crisis peak as buyers of second homes sought to avoid the additional tax liabilities".