Wenning Jung has joined Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors in California to lead the team’s Asia business. She joins from the California Public Employee’s Retirement System (Calpers), the largest public pension fund in the United States, where she had served as an investment officer in its real-estate department.

While at Calpers she had implemented a new investment strategy into Asia and managed a portfolio of seven international commingled and separate account funds. Hers is a new role at Franklin Templeton, designed to help the firm boost its investments into Asia-based real-estate managers. The firm manages $2.5 billion of real-estate investments as funds of funds. She could not say whether the firm is preparing to introduce new products or if it is enhancing the existing offering.

There is an increasing prevalence of hot spots for foreign investments in Asia. Lot of countries in the region have completely removed their unnecessary restrictions on foreign investors. This has attracted more investment in the property market as well. As a result there was a real boom in the property section of the market in 2007. There was a steady increase in the average occupancy rate of office and residential buildings. The governments in the region have also become alert and have awarded business park sites and industrial sites. In the present circumstances an understanding of the various investment opportunities across Asia will be extremely helpful to you.

Thailand has been a tricky destination for tourists around the world. It is exotic island home to some of the best investment opportunities available in Asia. The influx of travelers from UK has increased as a consequence of budget airlines and consistent backup of expats who live in places like Singapore and Hong Kong. Investors can expect excellent returns from Thai beach property over the next couple of years. Thailand promises to be a profitable investment market for a good part of the next decade.