The Dubai debt crisis of 2009 began on 25 November 2009, when state-owned Dubai World sought a six-month standstill on about $26 billion of debt after Dubai's…
Q3 2026 data show off-plan sales down 45.7% on a year earlier and resale prices down 1.5%. It is a slowdown after a long boom, with no standstill or rescue.
Dubai World restructured $24.9bn: $14.4bn of bank debt was stretched over five and eight years, and $10.5bn of government claims became equity. Nakheel's deal closed in…
Dubai World agreed in principle with its core banks to restructure $23.5bn of its own and Nakheel's liabilities, building on the government's 25 March 2010 plan.
Abu Dhabi provided a further $5bn, $10bn in total, and Nakheel's $3.52bn sukuk was repaid in full and on time. Dubai's stock market jumped more than 10%.
Dubai said Dubai World, Nakheel and Limitless would ask creditors to wait six months on about $26bn of debt. It was a corporate standstill, not a sovereign default.
Dubai announced a $20bn bond programme; the UAE central bank bought the first $10bn in March 2009. Nakheel's 2009 sukuk then traded at about 60 cents.
Lehman's collapse shut global capital markets. Dubai's state-linked firms had borrowed heavily abroad and could no longer refinance easily.
Prices peaked in mid-2008 and residential prices fell more than 50% between September 2008 and September 2009.
The IMF dates bubble conditions in credit and property to 2004, as state developers borrowed to build islands and towers.
In 2002 Dubai allowed foreigners to buy property in designated areas, opening the market to global investors.
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