Transactions were equally encouraging, rising 4% over the preceding month.
LCP attributed the rise to increasing availability of credit, marginal rises in employment and the help-to-buy scheme.
Central London’s strong performance helped hike up the national figures but even when London’s figures are excluded the average price was still £229,471.
London’s overall transactions saw a slight rise of 3% and property prices grew 10% over the month.
The average has now breached the £1.5m barrier for the first time to stand at a new high of £1,512,248.
However LCP warned that the figures should be treated with caution as performance was buoyed by an increased number of high value sales above £5m.
In the above £5m price bracket transactions rose from 15 to 27 representing an 80% year-on-year increase.
The most expensive sale was a terraced house located in Upper Brook Street, Westminster. This went for £27m.
The most money paid outside the capital was £7,883,364 for a terrace house in Sandwell, West Bromwich.
A recent report by Zoopla Property Group showed a significant rise in property millionaires, with over 300,000 properties, in total, having crossed the threshold.
Land Registry data also demonstrated a rise in £1m+ transactions of 15% since last year. Interestingly, however, only one sale above £5m took place on Zoopla’s ‘20 most expensive streets’ in May. This was on Grosvenor Crescent for £12.75m.
Naomi Heaton, Chief executive of London Central Portfolio, said: “Whilst it is clear that there is no glass ceiling when it comes to prices in Prime London Central, it is worth noting that only 27 sales took place above £5m.
“With so few transactions every month in prime central London (just 525 in May), these top-end deals do tend to mask real average prices.
“When these sales are excluded, the average price of property in PLC falls to £1,061,194. In fact, 1/3 of all sales took place in £500,000 - £1m bracket.”
