UPDATE 1-Spanish property sector slide slows

* House sales rise month on month in November

* Q4 property prices fall at lowest rate since end-08

(Adds detail, background)

MADRID, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Spain's property sector slide showed signs it was nearing a floor at the end of 2009 after two years of steep declines in both sales and prices, official data showed on Friday.

The number of houses sold in Spain rose 5.3 percent in November from a month earlier while house prices fell at the lowest annual rate in the fourth quarter since the same period a year earlier.

Spain's decade-long economic boom, fuelled by cheap credit and soaring property prices, came to an abrupt end last year after the global financial crisis exposed structural weaknesses in the economy that the government is now struggling to correct. House prices fell 6.2 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year, the Housing Ministry said, compared with a fall of 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and a record drop of 8.2 percent in the second quarter.

Prices fell 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter from the July to October period after a 0.9 percent decline quarter-on-quarter in the prior three months.

The ministry's figures are in line with private property surveyor association Tinsa which said on Tuesday house prices slipped 6.6 percent in 2009 year on year.

Property prices in Spain have fallen around 14 percent from their high at the end of 2007 and while the official data showed the drop in value may be turning the corner, economists say the sector is still highly overvalued.

A Reuters survey in October predicted that house prices would fall a further 7.3 percent in 2010 and 25 percent from the peak.

The annual rate of decline in the number of homes sold was 2.6 percent in November compared with a year-on-year fall of 21.3 percent in October and a record 47.6 percent drop in April.

Almost 84,000 homes were sold in the first month the series was reported, January, 2007, though this dropped to around 32,000 in November 2008 where it has stabilised. Just over 33,060 homes were sold in November 2009, INE said.

(Reporting by Paul Day; Editing by Elisabeth O'Leary/Ruth Pitchford)