House prices increased by 5.7 per cent in the year to May, up from 5.5 per cent in April, official data shows.
The average property price across the UK now stands at £274,000, matching a peak recorded in August last year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Prices are 13.3 per cent higher than they were in January 2008, before the financial meltdown rocked the housing market.
On a monthly basis, values rose by 0.9 per cent across the UK in May, following a 1.4 per cent dip in April, the ONS says.
Property values in Northern Ireland have seen the strongest upswing of any region in the UK, surging at more than twice the pace of growth in London over the past year.
Values have increased by 10.5 per cent in the province compared with 4.7 per cent in London.
However, property prices in Northern Ireland fell particularly steeply in the wake of the economic downturn and still have a considerable way to go to reach the levels they achieved before the financial crisis.
Copyright Press Association 2015