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.

Dubai World, and it’s children companies, accounts for most of Dubai’s debt. The cost of insuring Dubai’s debt has seen a massive increase in recent weeks as many people become skittish about Dubai property.

With one of the largest and most prestigious developers in trouble, there are concerns that some of the most well-known developments such as the Palm Jumeriah will stop work leaving many parts of Dubai as a massive construction site and possibly leaving many property investors out of pocket. People who are thought to have already purchased homes on the manmade island include Beckham, Pitt, footballers Andy Cole, Joe Cole, Kieron Dyer, David James and Michael Owen.

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Descent International, a luxury ski company, has collapsed and has reportedly left debts of nearly £1.5 million.

Descent International have always been a favourite of rich and famous clients, with past clients including Sir Fred Goodwin, Rowan Atkinson, the Beckhams and J.K. Rowling. The company had tried to negotiate a re-financing deal however this failed and has ultimately led to the company going under.

The company didn’t offer flights therefore was not under the travel regulation body, ATOL. This maens that anyone who booked with Descent may struggle to get their money back.

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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.

Paltrow, 36, has spoken of her time in Spain in previous interviews and it is clear that she is fond of the country.

“Spain became a second home,” she explained. “It is so different from the United States. It seemed to have a history and the buildings are years and years and years old.

“[The Spanish] seem to enjoy life a little bit more – they enjoy time with the family. The don’t always have their Blackberries on.”

Paltrow has a Spanish version of her lifestyle website Goop.com. She has also filmed a documentary series recently titled “Spain – On the road again” and is also thought to be writing a book on American food with a Spanish twist. She is also believed to be teaching both of her children, Moses and Apple, to speak Spanish.

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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.

The Spanish mansion is near Marbella in an area called La Gaviota. The pair bought the six bedroomed villa 12 years ago having rented it for the year previously when Banderas used it to help rehearse for the film The Mask of Zorro. The Spanish villa was given a building license two years previously.

In 2003 the Andalusian High Court ruled that the building license should not have been granted. Last year Banderas was ordered to knock down a 300 square foot wing of the villa. Banderas is currently still in the appeal process, hoping to overturn this planning decision.

The Spanish government are currently cracking down on property that has been given planning permission despite being built on green-belt land. Although several properties were bulldozed in early 2008, a court has ruled that demolition is illegal and so homeowners are now being notified of the issues with their houses. Around 500 miles of Spanish coastline are currently being targeted leaving many Spanish property investors concerned over the status of their investments.

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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.

The luxury property, named Old Mill Farm, was built in 1926 by architect Charles Lewis Bowman for G. L. Ohrstrom, a horse lover. The building itself is mock-Tudor and is around 16,000 square feet featuring 15 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms. Outside the property boasts the ‘standard’ luxury items such as a swimming pool , tennis court and pond, as well as stables, staff houses, log cabin, maze and formal gardens.

Gibson is not the only celebrity finding house selling difficult in the current climate. Last month, Elle Macpherson dropped the asking price on her Notting Hill pad by £2 million after the property was left unsold for over a year.

Macpherson’s Grade II listed property was initially put on the market for £9.5 million last summer. In January, she dropped the asking price to £8.95 million but there were still no takers and Macpherson lowered the asking price again to just £7.5 million.

Macpherson’s property is a Victorian property built in the 1850s covering seven storeys. It features six bedrooms and five bathrooms, and Macpherson is said to have spent a lot of money restoring some of the original features and redesigning the interior.

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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.

It has been five years since many of the property investors initially paid their deposits for a range of off-plan Spanish properties. Although many of the developments were built, others were scrapped as building licenses obtained were illegally issued by the then mayor Pedro Tirado, who was later put in prison for accepting bribes.

Much of the land involved in the projects has now been sold on to new developers, and these developers will not recognize the contracts between the initial Spanish property investors and the Royal Marbella Group, leaving many out of pocket. It is hoped that the High Court action will see property investors recoup the money they have lost.

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