London, March 9 : Celebrities like David and Victoria Beckham, Michael Jackson and Brad Pitt are being left 80,000 pounds poorer every week, thanks to the ongoing recession which was crashing into their posh Dubai villas.

The Gulf state had previously attracted many investors who had shelled out up to 3.2 million pounds on pads in Palm and World Islands developments, a string of imitated peninsulas in the Persian Gulf.

Other investors to have made the deposits for top estates included actress Angelina Jolie, England cricketer Andrew Flintoff and ex-Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher.

According to Jack Whisker, of luxury agents Dream Property Dubai, the credit crunch had forced the then lucrative investments to strip down in half the value.

"The Dubai market has fallen off a cliff. The credit crunch hit us suddenly because all the foreign investors lost confidence," the Mirror quoted him as saying.

"It has hit the higher-value properties the hardest. Fourbedroom villas worth 3 million pounds a couple of months ago are now being sold for 1.5million pounds," he added. (ANI)