What is the safest way to invest in property in a foreign country? Pose that question to UK viewers of television programmes such as A Place In The Sun or No Going Back, and then to professional, institutional investors, and the answers will be very different.

For professionals, more interested in exploiting the value opportunities that foreign markets offer than soaking up sun and atmosphere, the likelihood is that the words “indirect” and “local” will loom large in most, if not all, replies.