The federal Census Bureau just released the latest statistics on the national housing market. Good? Bad?

Nope … ugly.

According to today’s release, new home sales in November fell an astounding 9 percent from October. And that’s the good news. On an annual basis, new home sales came in even worse, falling a gargantuan 34.4 percent from one year ago.

The new homes sales figure was the worst in more than 12 years.

The Census Bureau also released the latest construction data. Building permits were down 24.6 percent; housing starts, down 24.2 percent; and privately owned housing completions, down 28.7 percent from last year.

Analysts believe that the worsening housing industry and credit troubles could force consumers and businesses to curtail spending. Approximately 72 percent of the U.S. gdp is consumer spending. If that goes, the economy could turn ugly really quick.