Excepting that precious yellow metal, there was virtually no place to hide from the prevailing asset deflation witnessed during the past 18 months. Certainly, Asian property investors have not been immune to severe turmoil in credit markets and decelerating economic activity, both of which manifested themselves in declining asset values — or bargains as some might prefer to say. And although we may be in uncharted territory in the post-globalization era now characterized by extreme volatility and dysfunctional credit markets, there remains a growing menu of private equity real estate funds that provide access to all types of Asian real estate at all levels of the risk-reward curve.

The current economic downturn and the global financial credit crisis have impacted asset classes in all regions around the world, and the real estate sector has not been immune. Nonetheless, investment strategies targeting distressed investments are in vogue, and a secondary investment strategy will be a major theme for 2009 and beyond.

Value, in real estate investing, is one of the most talked about concepts. It is what investors strive for, what managers hope to deliver and what developers aim to produce. But for all the talk and interest in the subject, for all the attention directed to measuring it and assessing it, there is relatively little understanding about how value is actually created.