Home prices rise more than forecast in November

(Reuters) - U.S. single-family home prices rose slightly more than expected in November, while their increase from a year ago was the biggest in almost eight years, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. A Reuters poll of economists forecast a rise of 0.8 percent. The 20-city composite index rose 13.7 percent year-on-year, the largest rise since February 2006. "Home prices continue to rise despite last May's jump in mortgage interest rates," David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a statement. "While housing will make further contributions to the economy in 2014, the pace of price gains is likely to slow during the year." Despite a 0.1 percent decline on a non-seasonally adjusted basis for the monthly gauge, the 10-city and 20-city measures posted their best November performance since 2005. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)