I am interested by the couple comments about Sri Lanka. I am born and bred British but my parents are Sri Lankan and I go back often as we have a family home there ( Mount Lavinia). I am going there on holiday in a couple days in fact and will no doubt do some property hunting.
The Colombo properties are not cheap. They are over inflated by the demand from the rich expat communities in England, Australia, Canada and the US. I don't think there is any money to be made in Colombo property. Outside Colombo on the sea front is definitely the areas with potential and a lot of Germans abd Austrians have bought there. There may be restrictions in place n how far one can build houses from the sea front after the Tsunami struck.

CS