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WASHINGTON — The housing market plunged deeper into despair last month, with sales of new homes plummeting to their lowest level in more than 12 years.

The slump worsened even more than most analysts expected, heightening fears that the country might be thrust into a recession.

New-home sales tumbled 9 percent in November from October to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 647,000, the Commerce Department reported Friday. That was the worst sales pace since April 1995.

Sales fell in all regions of the country except for the West, where sales rose 4 percent.

The figures from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development don't include data by state or metropolitan area.

However, John Strobeck of Bright Future Business Consultants recently estimated that new-home sales in the Tucson area fell by about 13.5 percent in November, compared with November 2006.

And a report by the Tucson Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service showed the number of sales in November had fallen more than 22 percent from the same month last year.

"It was ugly," Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research, said of the most recent federal data. "It is the one sector of the economy that doesn't show any signs of life. It doesn't look like there is any resuscitation in store for housing over the next year."

The housing picture turned out to be more grim than most anticipated. Many economists were predicting sales to decline by 1.8 percent to a pace of 715,000.

In the Midwest, new-home sales plunged 27.6 percent in November from October. Sales dropped 19.3 percent in the Northeast and 6.4 percent in the South.

Over the last 12 months, new-home sales nationwide have tumbled by 34.4 percent, the biggest annual slide since early 1991, and stark evidence of the painful collapse in the once high-flying housing market.

"I think you can classify what we are seeing in the housing market as a crash," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.

"Sales and home prices are in a free-fall. The downturn is intensifying."

The median sales price of a new home nationwide dipped to $239,100 in November. That is 0.4 percent lower than a year ago. The median price is where half sell for more and half for less.

In Tucson, the Realtors group had reported the median home price decreased slightly to $213,000 in November.