Dubai has become renowned as a hotspot for wealth management and a flood of eye-popping building projects. But fears that the property market could be headed for a hard landing due to over-supply triggered a row involving a Dubai-based property firm that is upset about an investment bank's bearish forecast for the jurisdiction.

Union Properties claims it is looking at ways to take action at US investment bank Morgan Stanley after the Wall Street firm issued a report predicting property prices in the jurisdiction could drop by 10 per cent because of over-supply.

Union Properties’ shares have fallen by about 13 per cent since the Morgan Stanley report came out, according to Gulf News.

The affair underscores how sensitive companies can be about research that is alleged to have a significant impact on the prices of stocks or bonds. Also, sensitivities about bearish comments on Dubai come at a time when the jurisdiction has seen a strong influx of wealth management firms chasing after business from high net worth individuals.

“We’re not sure what action we can take as there are no laws against analysts. But we’ve notified the regulator and we’ll see what they decide,” Zaid Ghoul, chief financial officer of the firm told Gulf News.

Mr Ghoul said Union Properties met with Morgan Stanley in February but nothing was discussed regarding a future report.

Morgan Stanley declined to comment when contacted on the matter by WealthBriefing. Union Properties did not immediately return calls.

Morgan Stanley has an "underweight" recommendation on Union Properties' shares. Meanwhile, although concerned about oversupply of property in Dubai and the risks of a "hard landing" in the area, the bank is bullish on some other Gulf region markets, such as Abu Dhabi and Qatar.