While the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the United States and Western Europe has led to property prices in those regions falling, the Asian property market has been in a state of robust good health. Too robust perhaps, as regulators in a number of Asian countries are now looking at ways to cool down a market they fear is in danger of becoming a bubble.

With Western investors abandoning the European and North American markets for Asia, property prices in the region have been pushed up considerably. For instance, residential prices in Hong Kong were up 23% year-on-year, up 15% in most Chinese cities, and up 15.9% in Singapore according to analysts at the Macquarie Group. Furthermore, low interest rates and ease of borrowing have also been identified as contributory factors to the boom – which has led to some concern owing to the eerie similarities with the sub-prime boom and bust in the United States.

However, there are signs that companies are becoming jaded such as Shenzen-based Excellence Real Estate which postponed its planned US$1b IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Furthermore, measures have been introduced by the Chinese, Hong Kong and South Korean governments to curb speculation on real estate by increasing the minimum down payment on property and curbing non-banking loans to property buyers among others.