With Dubai real estate developers announcing $180bn worth of new projects in the first nine months of 2013 and no shortage of banks lining up to finance them, many industry observers wasted no time in stating that the emirate was heading for another property crash.
House prices in the emirate have jumped more than 20% in the past year, prompting the International Monetary Fund to warn in July that the authorities might need to intervene to prevent another bubble from forming.