UK house prices grow faster than expected in April - Halifax

LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) - British house prices grew faster than forecast in April, boosted by low mortgage rates and strong economic growth, figures from mortgage lender Halifax showed on Friday.

House prices rose 1.6 percent in April from March, compared with a forecast for a rise of 0.4 percent in a Reuters poll. Prices had risen by 0.6 percent in March, compared with an earlier estimate of 0.4 percent, Halifax said.

Prices in the three months to April were 8.5 percent higher than they were a year earlier, compared with an increase of 8.1 percent in the three months to March and below a peak of more than 10 percent in mid-2014, Halifax said. (Reporting by David Milliken)