Peter, a veteran businessman, took a punt on the rocketing Dubai property market a couple of years ago. He bought two flats in the low-cost International City development, a maze of anonymous buildings beside Dubai’s ring-road.

After selling and turning a tidy profit on both units, he banked one cheque but the other Dh300,000 ($81,700, €65,200, £53,800) bounced. “My [property] broker has disappeared to Bahrain. I don’t think he will be back in a hurry,” he says.