Asian countries are leading recovery of the global property market, primarily through government stimulus plans, India’s Economic Times reports. The strengthening markets include China, Singapore, India and Vietnam. China appears to be the region leader. Its government-dominated, top-down economy is surging after Chinese banks issued more than $1 trillion in loans in the first half of 2009, plus a nearly $600 billion government stimulus program. Singapore, India, Vietnam and a number of other Asian markets are also strengthening.

In past recessions, the United States has led global recovery.  “The economic center of gravity has been shifting for some time, but this recession marks a turning point,” said Neal Soss, chief economist for Credit Suisse in New York. “It’s Asia that’s lifting the world, rather than the U.S., and that’s never happened before.” He adds that vigorous rebounds, particularly in East Asia, suggest U.S. imports and exports will soon improve.

Retailers from all sectors continued to expand their global footprint during 2008 despite the global economic downturn, reports CB Richard Ellis in CBRE’s 2009 study. The report surveyed 280 leading global retailers in 67 countries.

Key findings include:

• The United Kingdom remains the country which attracts the most international retailers, with 58 percent of non-UK retailers in the survey present in the country.
• Luxury retailers and those from the clothing/footwear sectors are significantly more international than retailers from other sectors.
• London is the dominant retail city, followed by Paris, New York and Dubai.
• Retailers from all sectors continued to expand their global footprint an average 12 percent during 2008 despite the global economic downturn.
• Over 40% percent of all new openings during 2008 were outside the home region of the retailer concerned.

The geographic regions that benefited most from this global expansion process were the emerging markets, with Middle Eastern, Asian and Eastern European countries dominating the list of new openings.

Download full CBRE report or read about Shopping Capitals of the World at Forbes.com.

Housing prices are a bellwether of economic conditions. According to The Global Property Guide current inflation-adjusted report for house price changes for the year ending 1Q 2009, the house prices in Switzerland, Thailand, Austria, and Israel increased. House prices also increased in China-Shanghai but at a substantially lower rate than the previous year.

A few countries in the report, such as Greece, experienced less than one percent change. All the other countries had decreases in house prices, with significantly lower housing prices in Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and many others.

Check out 2Q 2009 house price changes.