The decrease was driven by a fall in big ticket orders, and in particular by a decline in domestic orders of 4.7 percent, while foreign orders slipped 0.7 percent. Contracts from the euro zone, however, rose 2.7 percent.
October data was upwardly revised to a rise of 2.9 percent from a previously reported 2.5 percent. The consensus forecast in a Reuters poll was for a fall in November of 0.7 percent.
"This doesn't look very good at first glance, but it isn't too serious. We had two months of very strong growth so a recoil is normal," said economist Alexander Krueger at Bankhaus Lampe.
The German economy ministry said in a statement that the prospects for a rise in orders in the fourth quarter remained good: "All in all, industry orders have been trending lightly upwards since the middle of the year despite the present drop."
A series of encouraging sentiment indicators added to hopes of fourth quarter growth, the ministry added.
The German economy shrank in the second quarter but managed to skirt a recession in the third thanks to a strong rise in consumer spending and a small boost from foreign trade.
Recent Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) data for December has given mixed signals - showing a slight pick up for the private sector, but a decline in new work for the service sector.
(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson; editing by Erik Kirschbaum)
