LONDON (Reuters) - British house prices rose more than expected in June from May and climbed at the fastest rate in more than a year and a half from the same period a year ago, data from mortgage lender Halifax showed on Wednesday.
Halifax said house prices jumped by 1.7 percent in June compared with a rise of 0.3 percent in May.
The year-on-year rate of growth in the three months to June increased to 9.6 percent from 8.6 percent.
Martin Ellis, Halifax's housing economist, said the stock of homes available for sale was at a record low.
"This shortage has been a key factor maintaining house price growth at a robust pace so far in 2015," Ellis said in a statement.
British finance minister George Osborne is expected to announce further measures to encourage house-building when he delivers a post-election budget statement at 1130 GMT on Wednesday.
"Economic growth, higher employment, increasing real earnings growth and very low mortgage rates are all supporting housing demand with signs of a recent modest pick-up in demand," Ellis said.
The increase in house prices in the Halifax price index contrasted with a fall reported by rival mortgage lender Nationwide last week. Nationwide said house prices fell 0.2 percent in June from May and the annual rate of growth slowed to 3.3 percent, its slowest pace of growth in two years.