Buying Land and House: What and Where to Buy?

February 1 2010 Categories: Property General Issues, Thailand Property No comments yet

In yesterday post we discussed Bangkok condominium market. Now what is Bangkok new homes market situation?

A healty Bangkok new houses market

Surprisingly Bangkok new homes market is healthy. The reason is that most SET listed developers have delayed launching new projects due to the political and economical situation and have instead pushed the sales of their inventory. As a result listed properties firms Bangkok new homes stocks have significantly diminished on the second quarter of this year. Also the demand for new houses has been growing steadily during the past five months of the years. According to the REIC (Real Estate Information Center) 28,800 houses units have been transferred during the five first months of 2009, 9,650 of which have been transferred in may. Overall this is 5% more than last year. This is the good news.

Bangkok new houses market is not foreign oriented

The bad news is that if you are a foreign buyer Bangkok new homes market is not for you. The reason is that the housing market in Bangkok is dominated by the 25 listed developers. Those developers only launch projects developed under land allotment licenses. When a project is developed under a land allotment licenses the developer may only sell the land and house units to the buyers. Developers may not lease the properties developed under a land allotment licenses. Furthermore the projects are designed with the needs of Thai customers in mind and foreign customers may not like them.

What about the situation in Thai provinces

Difficult to make an estimation of the housing market in province, especially when relating to properties that may attract foreign buyers, sufficed to say that the new houses market that targets foreign customers in Thai sea side resorts is mostly into the hands of first time developers who have tremendously suffered for the past two years.

So it is not unusual to see projects that were launched in 2005 or 2006 still “on sale” having to date sold only one third of the total amount of the units.

Will this market pick up again? One thing is sure, and extension of the lease period from 30 to 99 years would help stranded first time developers to sell again.

About the Author:

The author Rene-Philippe DUBOUT is a lawyer since 1990 when he was admitted to Geneva bar (Switzerland). He practiced as a litigator there for 10 years until he moved to Thailand in 1999. In 2002 he founded with a group of Thai lawyers Rene Philippe & Partners Ltd a local law firm that specialized in Cross Borders Investments and Real Estate. He has been lecturing in several Thai Universities and a speaker to numerous conferences and seminars. He is the author of a must read book:”How to Purchase Real Estate Offshore Safely: The Case of Thailand”.

http//:www.renephilippe.com

Originally posted 2009-08-27 10:40:41.

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