If you think that the housing market is bad here, and are complaining about the diminishing value of your home/commercial property, take a gander across the pond at the Republic of Ireland, whose housing market declined an astonishing 16.7% in 2001.  Ireland, the land of shamrocks, leprechauns, and widespread alcoholism is in an all out housing turmoil.

Dublin, Ireland's capitol and most populous city has witnessed a virtual housing price free-fall since 2007, with housing prices there declining 54% since their peak in 2007. Imagine taking out a loan to buy a house, only to witness your home and primary investment decline by more than half..

Time to buy an Irish House? You could probably pull the low-ball of the century.

This free-fall comes after an era of massive appreciation from 1997-2007, where Irish property values nearly quadrupled, creating a new record for property appreciation in Europe.  To make thing worse, Ireland is experiencing widespread unemployment, creating an economic disaster cycle.

Things aren't all bad though, the Irish economy returned to growth in 2011, after three years of recession largely due to growing exports. Then again this is no real reason to celebrate with all of the instability surrounding Europe. 

Above : The European Economy.