The number crunchers at The NPD Group have released their latest summary of year-to-date US toy sales up to the end of November 2009.

According to NPD analyst Anita Frazier, unit sales may have started to stabilize or even increase heading into the all-important month of December, while pricing has come down as heavy promotional activity at retail has occurred at a broader, deeper and earlier level than seen in prior years.

Overall toy sales were down 2% from US$16.38 billion year-to-date in November 2008 to US$ 16.03 billion year-to-date 2009.

The biggest growth area in the super categories was in building sets, which saw a 22% bump YTD November from US$622 million in 2008 to US$761 million this year. Standby action figures/role play was up 6% YTD to US$1.25 billion, while dolls was down 2% to US$1.82 million.

The biggest losers so far this year? That would be connected web play toys, such as Webkinz, whose sales dropped a sizeable 41% from YTD November 2008 figures and youth electronics, down 13% for the same period