House prices in Dubai will fall up to -20% by the end of the year, readers in an Arabian Business poll have said, a steeper decline than that pegged by property analysts in the emirate.

Some 38% of respondents said the Gulf’s worst performing real estate market would see a -20% slide in prices, a deeper fall than the -15% forecast by analysts this month.

A further 37% of the 350 readers polled said residential prices were still in decline, but put the expected drop at -15%. A further 11% believe house prices have hit bottom in Dubai.

Another 14% of respondents, however, said house prices had stabilised and the Dubai property market would show signs of recovery by the year-end.

Rents and prices in Dubai’s once-booming property market have been in a free-fall over the last few years, fuelled by the global financial crisis and the emirate’s own debt crisis.

Residential property prices in Dubai have fallen -60% from their peak and house prices in the city are expected to be further squeezed by a huge over-supply, with Jones Lang LaSalle reporting a further 18,000 new homes will hit Dubai’s saturated market by the end of this year.