The average price of houses throughout the UK fell only fractionally in May, official data released on Tuesday show, underscoring the message from several closely-watched indices that house prices have stabilised, at least for now.

The Department for Communities and Local Government said that its own Index of housing, which is mix-adjusted to reflect the actual representation of different types of housing throughout the country, fell by 0.1 per cent in May from April, reducing the year on year decline for the month to 12.5 per cent from 13.0 per cent in April.