• the average price of a property in the UK was £211,230

• the annual price change for a property in the UK was 8.1%

• the monthly price change for a property in the UK was 1.1%

• the monthly index figure for the UK was 110.8 (January 2015 = 100)

The timing of the stamp duty tax seems to have cooled demand in recent months, but this follows an extended period of increases in activity. Following a 6.2% fall on the month in April 2016, the volume of lending approvals for house purchases recovered slightly, by 1.3% in May. However, approvals on a monthly basis are still below the levels seen in the 10 months before the stamp duty changes. Following a strong increase in sales in the month prior to the stamp duty changes (March 2016), UK home sales fell by 42.3% in April 2016 to their lowest level since May 2013.