Brand new luxury apartments are being sold off in Dublin in a fire sale as the Irish banks try to recoup some of the billions of dollars lost in the great property crash.

Carrickmines Green (see spec bathroom above) was once planned as a high-end development with four-bedroom houses expected to fetch upwards of €770,000 ($930,000).

Of course, that was in 2006, when the sky was the limit and bandits ran the Irish property market.

Now those same high-end homes are being flogged off for less thar half their peak price - €350,000 or $422,000.

One-bed apartments which were priced at €365,000 ($440,000) are now being sold for €135,000 ($163,000).

The country is littered with half-finished developments and luxury homes and this is only the start of the great Irish sell-off.

Tellingly, the receivers decided to sell Carrickmines at this 55 percent discount because they still believe the market will fall another 10 percent.

There are 49 properties for sale at Carrickmines and it is expected that the bailed-out and taxpayer-owned Anglo Irish Bank will receive just $10m from the sale.

Which would hardly have paid for the land back in the gold rush.