One of the largest property developers in Dubai has called for a temporary end to new construction in the emirate in a bid to address over-supply issues.

Around 30,000 new homes will be built this year in Dubai, twice the demand in the Gulf city, according to estimates by property broker JLL. It comes as property prices continue to fall, now down by around 30% compared it the peak five years ago.

That has led the Damac Properties chairman Hussain Sajwani to call for immediate action. In an interview with Bloomberg, he said: “All we need is to just freeze the supply. Reduce it for a year, maybe 18 months, maybe two years.”

Damac has dramatically reduced new sales in the past two years and will focus on selling the properties in its inventory, Sajwani said. Still, the developer will complete 4,000 homes this year and another 6,000 in 2020. Sajwani warned that ignoring the oversupply could spell trouble for the city’s banks. The declining value of homes would inevitably lead to growing bad loans and higher provisions against default, hitting profitability. Dubai has recently created a committee to limit supply and ensure that private developers operate in a fair way.