When investors consider buying an overseas residential property, they factor in not just the total returns but also the liabilities, such as taxes on buying, holding or selling property.

A newly released report by real estate agency and consultancy Knight Frank found that the more mature and open markets of Hong Kong and Singapore put some of the highest tax burdens on foreign investors. South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia have more benign tax schemes, while Cambodia has the lowest tax burden on residential property investments in the region.

Foreigners buying a property in Hong Kong or Singapore must pay a high stamp duty - over 16 percent. In Cambodia, by comparison, buyers pay only the 4 percent registration tax, with no additional charge levied on foreigners.

Residential investors also face steep taxes when they sell properties in Hong Kong or Singapore, particularly short-term investments. In both markets they must pay a stamp duty of at least 15 percent on properties held less than a year.

Cambodia has no stamp duty on the sale of property, though unlike these more mature property markets, investors here may be charged a tax on net capital gains.

Nicholas Holt, Knight Frank's Asia Pacific Head of Research, said Asian countries have introduced new taxes to investment property to counteract the fiscal stimulus packages these countries took in the wake of the global financial crisis.

"As a macro-prudential tool, taxes have been introduced to cool residential markets - markets ironically buoyed by the very same stimulus measures and the low interest rate environment we have seen since 2009," he said. ​

By Khmer Times/Cam McGrath

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