Average price of an apartment on Palm Jumeirah (May 2010)

Think Tank Average prediction: AED1,022

The highest prediction by a panel member to this question was AED1,200, which tells its own story.

The lowest was AED850. No one around the table felt that Dubai’s property woes were behind the emirate, although there was widespread agreement with the panelist who pointed out property values in Dubai’s smartest addresses – for example the Old Town Burj Khalifa district– were starting to hold up.

A recent Colliers report which said rents in Dubai were actually rising came in for some derision, although John Davis, the head of Colliers in the Middle East, defended the findings by saying the results were skewered by firm rents in desirable areas.

No one around the table was looking to snap up Dubai property bargains yet.

Could prices sink to cost? It was agreed that they certainly could, and in less desirable addresses probably would.

John Davis told the story of days in 2007 when invitations to bid in Emaar property auctions were worth AED100,000 - a reality hard to imagine today.