NOVEMBER : home prices plunge record 18.2 percent yr/yr: S&P

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prices of single-family homes plunged a record 18.2 percent in November from a year earlier, indicative of a housing market that is still in the throes of a deep recession, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.

The composite index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 2.2 percent in November from October, S&P said in a statement on Tuesday. The depreciation on a month-over-month basis was slightly worse than expectations based on a Reuters survey of economists.

The year-over-year price drop, however, was slightly better than expectations.

S&P said its composite index of 10 metropolitan areas fell 2.2 percent in November from October for a 19.1 percent year-over-year drop, matching the previous month's record drop.

"The freefall in residential real estate continued through November 2008," David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's, said in a statement.

(Reporting by Julie Haviv; Editing by James Dalgleish)