The economic earthquake that is the global recession has rocked the foundations of the Asian residential markets. And like an earthquake, the residential shakeup has hit some regions and subsectors harder than others, and a number of residential market recoveries are expected in the middle to long term. How are various Asian residential markets digging their way out of the biggest downturn in ages?

In much of Asia, residential means multifamily. “The majority of products constructed in Asia are shared-wall, multi-story,” says David Stanford, executive director of RealFoundations, a real estate consultancy firm. “There’s a lack of land where people want to be.” For example, about 85 percent of the housing in South Korea consists of high-rise residential towers.

While Japan has a large rental market, the for-rent market in South Korea is very small, with some public housing a