LONDON (Reuters) – British consumer sentiment rose last month to its highest level since April 2016, bolstered by expectations of greater job security and rising house prices, polling company YouGov said on Monday.

The YouGov/Cebr figures increase signs of a rapid rebound in Britain’s economy within the second quarter when lockdown restrictions in situ since the beginning of the year eased for several retailers, pubs and restaurants.

“Undeterred by the unusually wet weather last month, UK consumers have clearly made the foremost of their newfound freedoms and spent freely in shops and therefore the hospitality sector,” said Kay Neufeld, head of forecasting at economic consultants Cebr.

Economists polled by Reuters expect on the average that April gross domestic product data due on Friday will show a 2.2% rise from March and can be a huge 27.6% above a year earlier, when Britain was within the depths of its first lockdown.

The biggest contribution to the rise within the YouGov/Cebr index came from components measuring house prices and expected job security.

Mortgage lender Halifax reported earlier on Monday that house prices last month were 9.5% above their level a year earlier, the most important increase in nearly seven years.

Business surveys also point to a pointy recover .

But the image is more muted from Britain’s longest-running survey of consumer sentiment, which doesn’t ask about house prices and places a greater weight on households’ experience over the past year. This measure, published by GfK, shows sentiment back at roughly its pre-pandemic level in April.