World real estate bubbles are showing cracks right now everywhere we look. The NY Times posted the ugly truth the other day on how the U.S housing market collapse is slowly but surely affecting worldwide markets such as Spain, Britain, Ireland, China, Hong Kong, as well as in eastern Europe.

It seems that the whole financial loan crisis is also being influenced by heavy stock fluctuations which in turn sours markets everywhere.

An Irish couple bought their one bedroom apartment in Dublin in 2006 at the peak of the local market for $575,00. This very same apartment is now worth around $100,000 less than then.

Reports from around the world paint the same bleak image of lives being ruined and money gone down the drain with properties that are losing value fast.

This economic crisis was in some ways foreseen, but not to the extent in which it happens. Britain seems to be even worse affected than California and Florida, since the real estate bubble was way higher than in the U.S. The scary part is, that it is still early days and yet people already panic now.

The frantic trend of buying property in Eastern European states has also come to a notable slowdown. Economists predict that this downturn in the real estate bubble will most likely last into 2009.

This whole standstill has had a ripple effect into many communities. Employment in Spain and Ireland has been the worst affected because their economy is driven massively by residential investment accounts.

Dreams are being shattered and people are left without a job. This can naturally spread further to local businesses and shop owners. The I.M.F. estimates that property values in Spain are overvalued by some 15 percent. Therefore thousands of properties are now standing empty amongst palms and eternal sunshine.

What a waste this truly is.

The worst off by far seems to be Ireland with an estimated over valuation of properties by 30 percent. People everywhere are stuck paying off mortgages for houses that are only worth a third of the price they paid for.

Naturally, time will tell whether those markets will be able to recover slowly and painfully or not.

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