The story is the same in almost every developed country: the bursting of the real estate bubble has caused property values to plummet, credit markets to seize up, and deal-flow to grind to a halt. According to Real Capital Analytics, a research and consulting firm, the volume of deals in the industrialised world fell 54 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 compared with a year ago.

What’s a restive real estate investor to do? How about an office block in China? Or an apartment development in India? Or an industrial park in suburban Moscow?