U.K. house prices unexpectedly jumped in May by the most since 2002, adding to signs the worst of the recession is over, a report by Halifax showed.

Home values rose 2.6 percent from the previous month to an average of £158,565 pounds ($260,000), the division of Lloyds Banking Group Plc said in a statement in London today. Economists predicted a 1 percent drop, according to the median of 12 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. From a year earlier, prices fell 13.7 percent.

Services industries expanded for the first time in a year in May and consumer confidence rose to a six-month high, reports yesterday showed, in further evidence the economy is emerging from its slump. The Bank of England said today it will continue spending 125 billion pounds in newly printed money to bolster lending as it kept the benchmark interest rate at a record low.

“The Halifax data are bound to heighten speculation that the housing market is turning,” said Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight in London. “We believe that the pickup in actual house purchases is likely to be gradual and fitful for some time to come given ongoing tight credit conditions.”

The monthly increase was the first in four months, Halifax said. In the three months through May, prices fell 16.3 percent from a year earlier.

“There are some tentative indications of a possible stabilization in activity, albeit at a low level,” Nitesh Patel, an economist at Halifax, said in the statement. “House sales remain substantially below their long term average and market conditions are expected to remain difficult.”

The Bank of England today left the benchmark interest rate at 0.5 percent at its monthly decision and said they would keep the total amount of money that they want to spend on assets to aid the economy under review.