The struggling housing market deteriorated sharply in November, the government and trade organizations said Tuesday, as the plunging stock market and recession-plagued economy gave little incentive for anyone to purchase a home anywhere in the nation.

The National Association of Realtors said existing-home sales dropped by 8.6% seasonally-adjusted rate in November to 4.49 million units -- down 10.6% from a year ago. That was far worse than the 4.93 million units expected by economists, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

Further, the national average price of an existing home now dropped by 13.2% from a year ago, NAR said. Existing home sales make up the vast majority of the economic activity in the housing sector.

The inventory of unsold homes rose sharply in November to a supply of 11.2 months, the trade organization said, up from 10.3% in October. The number of unsold homes on the market was the highest since the early 1980s.

“The quickly deteriorating conditions in the job market, stock market, and consumer confidence in October and November have knocked down home sales to another level,” said Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for NAR.

All regions of the nation saw declines in home-sale activity during the month, NAR said. The Northeast saw month-to-month declines of 12%, the Midwest saw declines of 7.4%, the South saw declines of 10.9% and the West saw declines of 4.3%.

In the new-home sales market, the U.S. Commerce Department said new-home sales fell by 2.9% to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 407,000. That was slightly worse than the 415,000 rate expected by economists. The sales activity for new homes is down 35.3% from a year ago.

Inventories for new homes did decline relatively last month however, the government said. The Commerce Department estimated there were 374,000 units on sale -- an 11.5 month’s supply -- in November, down from an 11.5-month supply of 402,000 units. Inventories however remain at near-record levels.

FOX Business Chief Economist Mark Lieberman said both reports could indicate that the nation’s housing market could worsen before it gets better. That could play poorly for the overall economy, where the general consensus is that the housing market must get better for the rest of the economy to improve.

“The rapid price declines could actually stall sales as buyers hold out for even lower prices and sellers dig in their heels,” Lieberman said. “Buyers are generally reluctant to buy into a falling market.”