UK house prices rise at fastest annual pace since February 2018

LONDON (Reuters) - British house prices rose at the fastest annual rate since February 2018 last month, increasing by 4.1% after a 4.0% rise in December, figures from mortgage lender Halifax showed on Friday.

House prices increased by 0.4% on the month in January, above economists' forecasts in a Reuters poll for them to stay unchanged after an unusually big 1.8% jump in December.

Halifax was cautious about the outlook for the rest of 2020.

"It’s too early to say if a corner has been turned. The recent positive figures may actually represent activity that would ordinarily have been expected to take place last year, but was delayed by economic uncertainty," Halifax managing director Russell Galley said.

(Reporting by David Milliken, Editing by Elizabeth Howcroft)