The Dominican Republic became known as one of the fastest rising tourism destinations in the world last year. This obviously made the Dominican Republic property very popular with overseas property investors and lifestyle buyers, who were also attracted by the fantastic value for money and rental yields.

Like most overseas property markets that were popular up until last year, there has hardly been a dickie bird since the worst of the downturn set in. Ever since the talk began of this being the worst financial crisis since World War II, people have been scared of putting money into overseas property, and this obviously affected media coverage of emerging markets like Dominican Republic.

Meanwhile, media coverage or no, tourism to the Dominican Republic has not been as badly affected as people expected, or as many other places around the world. Again, this is because of the fantastic value for money offered by the low cost of living in the country.

Massive international resort chain Hard Rock Hotel has just testified to the fact that Dominican Republic tourism is still a massive growth market, when it announced that it was building a new multi-million dollar resort in hotspot Punta Cana.

Because the market has not been battered, Dominican Republic property prices have held firm. This is also likely because the properties were so well priced in the first place; there was no massive speculation so there has been no severe correction.

Now that there is the first talk of recovery, and it is apparent that the crisis is not going to get anywhere near as bad as the doomsayers doomsaid, there are reports of increased activity from foreign buyers in the Dominican Republic property market.

The demand for overseas property has grown faster than anyone could have imagined since there was the first signs that we had reached the low point in the crisis in April. This is undoubtedly at least partly because of the record low interest rates being offered in all the G8 and most of the G20 nations.

Yes, this affects demand for overseas property because reduced payments on debt increases liquidity. But in the current market, it is predominantly those who have no debt, or certainly those with substantial savings who are buying.

So the biggest boost from low interest rates is from investors’ being disillusioned with the pitiful returns from bank held savings, who are seeing the 4-8% average yield from an overseas property investment as by far the best option. After all, you don’t get to lie on a sun-soaked beach when you go to visit your money in Barclays.