LONDON, (Reuters) - British inflation last month rose by more than expected to hit its fastest rate since January, picking up from a 4-1/2-year low, official data showed on Tuesday.
Separate data showed house prices also picked up speed, with property prices in London jumping by a record 20.1 percent over the 12 months to May.
Consumer prices rose 1.9 percent on the year in June, the Office for National Statistics said. Economists taking part in a Reuters poll had expected inflation to rise to 1.6 percent from 1.5 percent in May.
Inflation in Britain had been largely declining over the last year, helping the Bank of England to hold off on raising interest rates despite Britain's surprisingly strong economic recovery.
Compared with the previous month, the consumer price index in was up 0.2 percent in June, the ONS said.
The largest contribution to the year-on-year increase came from clothing and footwear prices - which did not fall as usually occurs in June when summer sales tend to start.
An ONS official said there were signs that good weather last month may have deterred retailers from cutting prices.
Food also contributed after it was weak last year. The ONS said there were no significant downward contributions to consumer price inflation.
Before December last year, annual inflation exceeded the Bank of England's 2 percent target every month since December 2009, eroding the spending power of households and making the fall in living standards a big political issue ahead of next year's elections.
An underlying measure of inflation, which strips out increases in energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, rose by 2.0 percent in June compared with the same month last year.
Data also released by the ONS on Tuesday showed that factory gate prices rose by 0.2 percent in annual terms, the lowest reading since October 2009 and undercutting economists' predictions of a 0.5 percent increase.
Separate data from the ONS showed house prices in Britain rose 10.5 percent in the year to May. Other more recent surveys have suggested rapid growth in house prices has started to cool off a little.
Excluding London and the south east, British house prices rose by 6.4 percent in the 12 months to May, the highest in nearly four years.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce and William Schomberg)