Irish property crash leads euroland slump

Ireland has become the first country in the eurozone to slide into recession as the housing boom turns to slump. The economy shrank by 0.5pc in the second quarter, and 0.3pc in the first quarter. Other EU states to follow include Denmark, already in recession and Sweden, not members of EMU, followed by Italy, Ireland and Spain, which has been in trouble for a while. In Ireland, house prices have fallen for eighteen months in a row, according to the TSB/ESRI index. Average values are now down 13pc from their peak of €311,000, and show no sign of stabilizing. It was a whle ago that Fred Harrison predicted the demise of the Celtic Tiger in his video. Link to Daily Telegraph article