UK house prices surge by 13%, most since 2004, Halifax says

LONDON (Reuters) -House prices in Britain rose by the most since 2004 in the 12 months to June, leaping by 13% as better-off households defied the broader cost-of-living squeeze facing the rest of the country, mortgage lender Halifax said on Thursday.

The pace of house price growth accelerated from 10.7% in May, Halifax said.

In monthly terms, prices rose by 1.8%, the biggest increase by that measure since 2007, after a 1.2% increase in May from April, the figures showed.

"Property prices so far appear to have been largely insulated from the cost of living squeeze," Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax, said.

"This is partly because, right now, the rise in the cost of living is being felt most by people on lower incomes, who are typically less active in buying and selling houses."

By contrast, higher earners were probably able to use coronavirus pandemic savings to fund property purchases, Galley said in a statement.

(Reporting by William SchombergEditing by David Goodman and Frank Jack Daniel)