"I have been an FM for almost as long as I can remember, ok it is 22 years. This time I only want some information from you about where I can find Real Estate Companies with a decent dividend, located in Asia or in South-America. I want to increase my investments in these regions (you know why). It is also a good time now because the Swedish krona is a strong currency today. Keep up your good work."

Eoin Treacy's view Thank you for this interesting email and your long-term patronage. Many investors are wary of real estate investments following the blowout experienced in the USA and many parts of Europe over the last few years. However, that should not preclude investors from considering this asset class in areas with low leverage, high savings, sound economic fundamentals, a strong currency and rising standards of living such as in many parts of Asia and Latin America.

Your request isn't a simple one to answer and I will have to give some additional thought on how best to provide such a list so let's consider this answer a preliminary attempt.

I started by looking at the Bloomberg Asian REIT Index but while it has some interesting contenders paying reasonable dividends, it is dominated by the Japanese, Hong Kong and Singapore markets. I could not find an index of Latin American REITs whose members I could access, so I performed a search for Real Estate related shares in Asia and Latin America. There were more than 600 results from 20 countries which I have arranged by country and yield here.

When we strip out Japan and countries with relatively high property prices such as China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia and companies paying a dividend less than 2%, the list becomes considerably more manageable. There might be sound reasons for considering Japan since property prices are comparatively low and yields high but this is a separate argument from the growth of the middle class trend with is active in other markets. Likewise Singapore, China and Hong Kong opportunities should be addressed on their individual merits.

Next week I will perform a more in-depth investigation and attempt to add a filter to weed out less liquid instruments. I will also show some with attractive chart patterns.