LONDON (Reuters) - British house prices spiked 3.9 percent higher in May, breaking two months of falls and leaving house prices in the three months to May 8.7 percent higher than a year earlier, mortgage lender Halifax said on Thursday.
The jump in house prices last month was more than five times greater than the forecast 0.7 percent rise in a Reuters poll, and Halifax did not offer any immediate explanation, beyond noting that monthly figures were sometimes volatile.
The increase brings the year-on-year rate of growth closer in line with that of the rival Nationwide measure, which is up more than 11 percent on the year.
"Housing demand is still strong and continues to be supported by a strengthening economic recovery. Consumer confidence is being boosted by a rapidly improving labour market and low interest rates," said Stephen Noakes, Halifax's mortgages director.
(Reporting by David Milliken; editing by Michael Holden)