Property prices in Asian countries have been rising at a staggering pace in the past few years due to the strength of their economies. Even during the global credit crisis last year prices did not decrease much, if at all, in most Asian countries.

In recent months, in addition to the spectacular run up in equity markets, Asian real estate markets have also heated up. In most countries this rise is not warranted based on fundamentals. While it's true that traditionally most Asians bought residential real estate as a place to live for life as opposed to making a killing via flipping, in recent years that attitude has been changing. Due to the availability of cheap credit, more Asians have become real estate speculators.