New Delhi, May 14 -- "We are thinking of moving to Dubai. Know any good brokers?" That question used to pop up regularly in 2025 on cross-Arabian Sea phone calls to residents of the city-state from India. The diligent among them had lists of brokers, property prices by neighbourhood, school admission timelines and short-term rental benchmarks-ready to forward when this question arose.

At the start of this year, Dubai's real estate market was running at full throttle-record transactions, rising prices and a skyline that seemed to grow shinier by the week.

The pitch was as much emotional as financial. In a world of rising global trade volatility, Dubai-one of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-was sold by brokers and dev...