UK home price rise quickens at fastest pace in seven years

[LONDON] UK house-price growth accelerated in February to the fastest in seven years as London led a recovery that's spreading across the country.

Prices in England and Wales rose 0.7 per cent from the previous month - the most since April 2007 - with values in London up 1.1 per cent, property researcher Hometrack Ltd said. Fifty-one per cent of postcodes reported gains, the biggest share in almost a decade.

Bank of England (BOE) chief economist Spencer Dale said in a Bloomberg News interview last week that the revival in the property mark…