The US Market Many people are considering offshore property investment, and at this moment a lot of people are looking into low-priced US property deals.
It may be the general investment rule to buy at low prices and sell at higher prices, however, the US property may be an exception that needs some deliberate consideration.
A lot of Canadians, for example, are looking at the possibility of investing in US properties.
Experts are sending off alarms as they agree that those deals are not good deals for Canadians.
If the deals are not good for Canadians who are neighbours to the US with currencies almost the same rate with each other, it means that other countries should be more wary too.
What are the factors that raised alarm in the market? First of all, the US housing market is still struggling to recover from the recent financial crash that began since 2007, which is considered the worst economic recession since the Great Depression of 1930s.
The 2008 US financial crash burst the property bubble, and up until January 2011, foreclosures hit a record high of 2.
2 million.
Over a four-year period, property prices dropped 30 percent on average, with some property prices dropping as much as 57 percent such as Las Vegas.
For a one year duration between April 2009 to March 2010, overseas investors bought up to $66 billion worth of residential property, which equals to 7 percent of the overall market, and Canadians make up to a quarter of buyers.
Amidst these exchange of property ownership, there are a lot of issues and problems.
One of the more common problem is the purchase of an apartment unit, only to find out that most of the around surrounding units are unoccupied due to foreclosure.
Sometimes utilities may also have been cut off too.
Buying houses may also face similar problems, with neighboring properties vacant.
This will definitely bring down the price of properties, and may even make the investment into a white elephant purchase.
In fact, a report earlier had said that there is the possible need to further lower the prices of US properties before locals are able to afford it.
Also, experts raised caution against properties that are near to the Mexican border, where it is said that properties may be sold with a rental contract in place, which then evaporates after the purchase.
The China Market Meanwhile, local Chinese property developers are diversifying their businesses by exploring different market segments and expanding to lower-tier cities in the light of the Chinese government's tightening policies to regulate prices.
The China Index Academy stated that the planned floor space of the country's top 100 developers have increased by 5.
92 percent points for retail and 0.
91 percent points for commercial properties.
This means that developers have shifted their attention from residential properties to commercial properties instead.
Also, there is a new interest in resort properties with the hope to lure wealthy customers for these high-end developments.
Their target buyers will be those from Beijing, Shanghai and foreign investment from Seoul, South Korea.
The Malaysian Market Malaysia has a popular Malaysia My Second Home Programme, MM2H, which was set up to encourage foreigners to stay in Malaysia.
Foreigners may also be working in international companies in Malaysia, and may either rent or purchase homes depending on their personal preferences and considerations which include the duration of work contract.
There is a minimum property price set for foreign purchase, with each state differing from each other as the minimum price is determined by the state government.
At the moment, Malaysian property prices are still rising, and the government stated that there is no implications of the recent Japanese Tsunami on Malaysia's economy.
In fact, property launches in Malaysia sees the rush of investors purchasing homes with a success rate of between 60 to 80 percent, which has become especially apparent with news of the Japanese Tsunami.
Everyone expected the rise prices in building materials due to the huge demand in Japan for redevelopment of homes and commercial entities which will also cause the rise in building prices eventually.
However, there is a danger in this situation.
The homes are mostly grabbed by investors for speculations rather than the consumers with genuine purchase intentions.
Investors are only waiting to release the homes when prices hike, which means buyers who wanted the property as their home may actually give up on purchase for a while.
This will possibly cause a rippling effect reflected by empty units which waits for a genuine tenant.
Overseas property investment is always seen as a romantic choice.
Never invest in a property without seeing it.
Get your own lawyer to investigate on the property instead of believing in claims on the Internet.