Tritecha Tangmatitham, deputy managing director of SET-listed developer Supalai Plc, said people in the mass market or middle income segment could barely afford housing, as the cost of residential development rises by 8 to 9 percent per year. “New mass-transit lines will present new residential locations,” he explained.
For example, the development of the MRT Purple Line, which serves travel demand between the city’s northwestern suburb in Nonthaburi and the southern area of Thonburi in Ratburana district, has helped temper soaring land costs in the inner city near skytrain and subway lines. “Once the line expands, there will be many more choices for middle-income people to afford a housing unit,” Tritecha said. In addition, “the government’s new property tax is expected to drive landlords to dispose of their land banks,” offering further choices for real estate development.
Wason Khongchantr, managing director of Modern Property Consultant Co., said intermediate locations had become a choice for buyers who could not afford a residential unit in the inner city. He also said there would be no more dramatic increases in land prices in the inner city, after they had tripled over the past 10 years. Soaring prices will instead be seen in locations where new mass-transit lines are constructed under the government’s infrastructure investment plan.
“It’ll be a chance for the office sector to develop new office buildings in the inner city, as new supply was scarce due to the booming condo sector in recent years,” Mr Wason added. As a result of limited supply, office rents will probably rise to more than 1,000 baht per square metre in the near future, from the present ceiling level of 900 baht per square metre for space on Wireless Road.