Celebrities are not immune from the Dubai property crisis with big names such as footballer David Beckham and actor Brad Pitt thought to have lost large sums of money as their properties plummet in price.
Nakheel, the island’s developer, and it’s parent company Dubai World are said to have made a request to suspend debt repayments. The request demonstrates the problems in the Dubai property market as Dubai World were one of the key driving factors behind the property boom in the area in the last few years. They have now asked creditors to give them some leeway on the $59 billion loans they have. Read more... (220 words, 1 image, estimated 53 secs reading time)
Prince Andrew is reported to have lost around £30,000 after a chalet company went bust. The Prince was intending to stay at Chalet Eugenia duing next year’s ski season and had put down money in order to rent the sever-star luxury chalet, however the luxury ski company he made his booking under has recently gone bust, leaving the Prince out of pocket.
Descent International, a luxury ski company, has collapsed and has reportedly left debts of nearly £1.5 million. Read more... (160 words, estimated 38 secs reading time)
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her rock-star husband Chris Martin are rumoured to be building a home near Madrid, Spain.
Paltrow has been gifted a plot of land near Madrid by a family who she used to stay with when she was a teenager when she was learning Spanish. The actress is said to be able to speak Spanish fluently. It is understood that she is now planning to build a home on the plot of land. She is also said to be considering buying a property in the Costa del Sol. Read more... (232 words, estimated 56 secs reading time)
Hollywood A-list stars Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffiths have been ordered to hand back some of their Spanish land thanks to the current Spanish crackdown on illegal properties.
The couple have been ordered to hand over 14,000 square feet of land from their $10 million Spanish beachfront home. The land in question is the area from the beach up to the edge of their 40 foot long swimming pool. The beach will now be given public access. Read more... (254 words, estimated 1:01 mins reading time)
Mel Gibson has reportedly dropped the asking price for his mock-Tudor mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut for the second time in two years.
The enormous house was put on the market in Summer 2007 for an asking price of $39.5 million. In September the property hadn’t sold so Gibson reduced the price to $35 million. Currently still without a buyer, the luxury property is now reportedly now on the market for just $29.75 million. Read more... (272 words, estimated 1:05 mins reading time)
Former England football player Sir Geoff Hurst, Olympic rower Sir Steve Redgrave and rugby star Tony Underwood are leading a court fight against Spanish property developers. The trio are heading up a High Court claim against the Royal Marbella Group, claiming that although some of the Spanish developer’s properties were built, many of their plans will never come to fruition.
Redgrave, Underwood and Hurst all endorsed the Royal Marbella Group’s property projects before discovering that some of the property investors had lost their deposits when the schemes were scrapped. Redgrave himself has also lost deposit money having invested around £2 million in a villa on one of the sites which has now been scrapped. Read more... (231 words, estimated 55 secs reading time)
