I have just returned from the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association’s (APREA) Property Leaders Forum, and I can tell you that investor sentiment in Asia has taken a radical turn for the worse.

Asian property markets rebounded surprisingly quickly from their bottom almost immediately following the global financial crisis of the late 2000s. And for the past six years, sentiment has remained relatively bullish. Until now.

Today, the region suffers from the same cautious sense of apprehension that seems to have infiltrated investor mindsets throughout most of the developed western world.

What has been the trigger for this abrupt and unexpected shift in mindset? I’m not sure. Most likely, it’s the result of a combination of factors.

The property markets