The Chinese housing market is seeing phenomenal growth in prices. Despite the global slowdown, property prices in Beijing and Shanghai have quadrupled in recent years, threatening to push house prices beyond the reach of Chinese families.

Because of this, and the fact that most people expect the phenomenal growth to continue, thousands of Chinese families are stretching themselves very thin to buy a house now, for fear that prices will spiral out of their reach in the coming months and years.

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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city’s central bank, last month imposed tighter mortgage restrictions, which Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said were to stave off a big property bubble following soaring prices this last year. He told attendees at a business lunch: “We do not want to see a huge property bubble developing in Hong Kong,” having earlier said that he wasn’t sure whether a bubble was forming or not.

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When I was a kid, if you saw “Made in Hong Kong” stamped on the underside of anything, that pretty much assured it was cheap and badly made. You certainly could not apply that to the Conduit Road 39 building in Hong Kong, where a 6,158 square foot duplex apartment has just sold for US$56.5 million. That’s a lot of square feet, but that’s also a lot of money – and the developer Henderson Land thinks it’s a record not just for the city but for anywhere in the world.

The apartment was bought by a company whose money comes from mainland China, according to the developer, but more than that they either don’t know or won’t say.

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The Malaysian real estate industry is debating whether or not c– “speculators” — should be allowed to buy in the country. They are worried that foreign investors speculative buying will push prices up and damage the health of the real estate industry. Currently driven almost entirely by resident Malaysians, the Malaysian property market is one of the least volatile in the world.

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Land prices in Japan have seen the biggest drop in five years as more discouraged buyers and tighter markets cut off funding to developers. In the 12 months leading up to June this year the average price has dropped 4.4 percent. This reflects an 18 month spell of decline said the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in a report.

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Property mogul Eyal Fishman has revealed his insights about global property markets that are influencing investment decisions at his private company Mirland.

Fishman’s companies – including London based Mirland – have property interests around the world.

So what are Fishman’s thoughts about the property world that may hold interest for smaller investors?

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Kuala Lumpur’s property developers are taking simmering projects off the backburner and readying to launch new developments as the local property market picks up.

For the past year, developers have shelved plans for new building and consolidated by selling homes that were ready-built.

As demand for residential mortgages picks up, developers are opening show homes and testing the water by inviting prospective buyers to sign registers of interest.

Most developers have a tipping point of registrations that then kicks off development.

Kuala Lumpur’s housing market is mainly focused on a young, well-paid local population moving in to the city for work in hi-tech and financial sectors.

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A recent survey by the Asian Real Estate Association has uncovered a disturbing trend for Singapore investors. It seems that the city’s property has disappeared from the radar screen of most non-listed institutional investors and fund managers.

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Centaline Property Agency Ltd. in Hong Kong reported about a possibility of a home prices rebound as early as this year. According to the agency’s research there has already been an increase in pricing in four of Hong Kong’s biggest mass housing estates where prices for property are below 1.3 million. Right now the prices in these estates are above the levels we saw last year in September which is a healthy sign for a possible market rebound.

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A record 83 percent fall in real estate sales has been noted in the Asian investment market. According to CB Richard Ellis the first quarter of 2009 has seen a decline from $18.02 billion in 2008 to $3.1 billion this year. The report states that Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan suffered the biggest loss in sales during that period.

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