Home shoppers in Dublin have plenty of choices (Aidan Crawley/Bloomberg) Ireland is the new poster child for the global property crash. Home prices in Ireland have fallen 40 per cent since the peak of 2007 and 11.9 per cent in the last year, according to a new price index. Dublin was hardest hit. The price of an apartment in the capital has fallen 52 per cent since February of 2007, the Central Statistics Office reported. Overall Dublin prices are down 47 per cent. While many global markets are stabilising, Ireland prices are continuing to fall. In March prices fell 1.7 per cent, the largest month-to-month drop since June of 2009, the darkest days of the financial crisis. The declines are attributed to a lack of available credit and an abundant supply of homes for sale--a familiar scenario. The numbers for the new official index, which uses mortgage data and home value information, is corroborated by other reports. The most recent Knight Frank Global House Index shows Ireland's performance dead last among major markets, with a 10.8 per cent drop in prices in 2010, compared to a 6.1 per cent drop for Dubai.