Retail sales are growing at the fastest pace in four years, a sign that U.S. consumers may be overcoming concern about unemployment and depressed home values, Bloomberg reported.

Sales probably expanded at an average monthly rate of 4 percent in the first five months of the retail fiscal year that began Jan. 31, the biggest gain since 2006, the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) said in advance of its June report, which will be released Thursday.

Retailers may have bucked last month’s drop in consumer confidence that threatens to temper the rebound. The year-to-date growth in sales shows that spending, a key driver of the U.S. economy, is faring better than many investors are betting, said Michael Niemira, the ICSC’s chief economist in New York.

“The sales results have been uneven, which makes people worry about the recovery,” Niemira said. “If you look at the underlying growth rate, it suggests a relatively healthy, moderate pace of spending for the remainder of the year.”

In the current fiscal year, the ICSC’s monthly number swung as high as 9 percent in March, then receded to a 0.8 percent gain in April, partly because of an earlier Easter holiday.

The sales acceleration has been driven by a 4.2 percent increase at wholesale clubs, excluding gasoline sales, and an 8 percent jump at luxury chains this year, according to the ICSC. Wealthy consumers tend to “come out of hibernation” first after a recession, and the clubs are luring value-seeking customers, Niemira said.

Sales in 2010 will grow 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent at the more than 30 chains it tracks, the ICSC predicted in mid-May, faster than its January projection of 3 percent to 3.5 percent. An increase within the latest forecast range would be the largest since 2006. Sales at those stores dropped 1.6 percent last year.