UK house prices continued to increase at a "brisk pace" in May - with average property values surging by 9.2% annually, new figures from Halifax show.
The average UK property price increased by 0.6% month-on-month in May, taking the typical value of a home to £213,472.
At 9.2%, the annual rate of increase recorded in May was unchanged from April.
But the quarterly pace of change - which is often a good indicator of the underlying trend - softened slightly.
On a quarterly basis, house prices in the three months to May were 1.4% higher than in the preceding three months.
This was slightly below the 1.5% quarterly increase recorded in April and marked the lowest rate of quarterly price growth since November 2015.
Halifax said that low interest rates, increasing employment and rising real earnings continue to support UK housing demand.
The strength of demand, combined with very low supply, is causing house prices to rise at a brisk pace.
But it added that increasing affordability issues, caused by a sustained period of house prices growing faster than earnings, should result in some slowdown in house price growth as the year progresses.
Analysts said that the property market is still readjusting from a stamp duty increase for second home buyers, including buy-to-let investors, that came into force on April 1 and resulted in a flurry of property sales taking place before the deadline for the tax increase.
They also noted some uncertainty caused by the upcoming EU referendum.
