Not if it is held as 'joint tenancy' - the most common way for couples to own their own homes.
In their lifetime, both as a union own the whole. On death the whole automatically passes to the surviving partner.
People can also buy property as 'tenantsin common' - each owns a defined share - 50% as example. Each can sell their share and on death, the share is dealt with by their will.
Automatically passes to survivor if tenants in common - yes. But 50% of its value is still part of the deceased's estate for inheritance tax purposes and must therefore be included in the account of the estate that goes to the Inland Revenue when you apply for probate.
True, you don't need probate to transfer ownership - but you still owe tax if the estate is big enough.
dzug - I think your answers are unclear and can be misleading:-
1. If it is owned as tenants in common it does NOT automatically pass to the survivor on death - it is dealt with under the Will of the deceased, or intestacy provisions if there is no Will. It has to be included in the probate and counts towards any inheritance tax liability.
2. If it is owned as joint tenants it DOES automatically pass to the survivor on death. It is NOT then part of the deceased's estate, so it does not get included in the probate and does not count towards any liability to inheritance tax.