LONDON (Reuters) - British house prices in May were 9.5% higher than a year earlier, their biggest annual increase in nearly seven years, mortgage lender Halifax said on Monday. House prices in May were 1.3% higher than in April, when they rose by 1.5%. Economists polled by Reuters had on average forecast a 1.2% monthly increase and a 10.0% annual rise. (This story corrects record to ‘nearly’ seven years) Reporting by David Milliken; editing by Michael Holden/Guy Faulconridge Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.