Pelican,
Can’t help but think you may have been looking at the wrong developments, in any town anywhere in the world there are cowboys and there are non cowboys, there is good opportunity in Malaysia and if they do de peg the ringgit and allow foreign lending those opportunities are going to expand rapidly, as I have read in another post, discernment is the key, Malaysia does have cowboys but it also has professionals.

I accept I am slightly biased since I work in offshore investment property but Malaysia is looking good in recent days, the ringgit is to be de pegged and according to Govt rumours, that I am trying to get more on, foreign purchasers are shortly going to be able to get up to 60% financing, throw in the My Malaysia scheme for visa free entry for five years as a bouns, though it does take a little working on, and in my opinion there will be some good gains available out there. The thai islands have cooled somewhat but will come back and if you can find condominium title (I think it is called ‘Juristic Condominium’ then you can look to getting up to 50% financing from one or two of the Thai Banks, strong rental guarantees are still out there and there have not been any firesales (as far as I am aware) in Phuket even though the Tourist Industry has taken a dive but with direct flights from Hong Kong among others, to both Samui and Phuket there remains a little wiggle room for good returns. Bali has seen a spike in Tourist numbers but there still remains the issue of leasehold, Thailand has that too but the Thai company route is one option and the Juristic condo title is essentially freehold, hence the ability of thai banks to lend. Eastern Europe perhaps but know little about it, the Palawan islands offer good development possibilities but they are in the Philippines which puts a lot of people off from the start but you can pick up an island and develop it out fairly cheaply and it has beaches equal to Thailand with less sprawl. Just my twopennyworth and fairly standard but there you go

Adam