* 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)
