Where it used to be Northern Africa and the Middle East, the place that currently sparks the most interest in terms of overseas property investment is Asia. While there is still more demand for property and actual investment happening on a daily basis in the Middle East and Northern Africa, at the same time more people are starting to ask questions about Asia and the Asian property market is quickly emerging as a point of interest on the world's stage.
Combine that with the fact that more people living in developed countries are starting to buy property abroad, and a recipe clearly exists for success on investment in Asian property markets.
According to a recent survey done by the Department for Communities and Local Government, the number of English citizens that have made purchases of property overseas has increased by 60% since the turn of the century and current trends show that the demand for overseas property amongst English investors is increasing rather than decreasing.
At the same time, many Asian countries are actually going out and wooing buyers to come into their economy and invest in all aspects (including the purchasing of property and investment in the shares of property developers). A good example of this is the Philippines, which has made great strides towards making their property market attractive to investors from the oil-rich Middle East and the developed world which is currently looking outward for property investment opportunities.
While this is all very encouraging information in terms of the Asian property market, at the same time it does need to be taken with a grain of salt. Such is the contention of Richard Brady, who is the director of Olive Tree International. In an interview given with the Asian Property Report, Brady asserted contradictory statistics from the Office of National Statistics and Lombard Research.
The bottom line is that while the figures are definitely encouraging, they should not be the primary basis for a movement to invest in the Asian property market.