Asia property on a roll, but is easy money elsewhere?

By Dominic Whiting

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - In the property world, the momentum appears to be with Asia.

Funds designed to buy offices in Tokyo or build homes in China and India are sucking up money from Western investors eager to enter a region so far only grazed by the global credit crunch.

But is the easy money to be made elsewhere?

Maybe in the ravaged London market, in the United States in a few months if price declines slow, or even in undervalued Asian property stocks rather than in bricks and mortar?

At this week's Reuters Global Real Estate Summit, fund managers ING Real Estate and LaSalle Investment Managers, the property arm of British insurer Prudential (PRU.L) and Dubai's ETA Star Property Developers all said they were raising new funds this year to invest in Asia.

Hailing strong regional growth and a more mature investment landscape in Asia, where the advent of real estate investment trusts (REITs) has brought more transparency to the murky world of property development, the funds are aimed at pension funds and insurers.

And many investors are buying it.

Property investment in Asia reached a record $121 billion (61 billion pounds) last year, up 27 percent from 2006.