Thailand’s political and economic issues have had the least impact on the luxury segment of Bangkok’s residential property market, reports The Nation.
Industry incumbents weighed in, with Aliwassa Pathnadabutr, managing director of CBRE Thailand, sharing that, during the final quarter of last year, CBRE represented four new luxury condominium projects with a total of 1,369 units. The projects have sold between 90 to 100 percent of their sales value, totalling over THB 8 billion. Also, a survey by Jones Lang Lasalle found that almost 3,500 high-end condos are expected to be complete by year-end, and that 80 percent of them are already sold.
One key factor leading to such success, despite the overall market slowdown and political uncertainties, is the developers’ in-depth understanding of their target markets, which led them to offer products that matched buyers’ requirements, Ms. Pathnadabutr said. In today’s competitive market, luxury real estate developers must appeal to customers’ requirements — especially in terms of unit size, layout, quality of specifications and building architecture.
Also, most luxury condominium projects require down payments of as high as 30 percent, resulting in a limited number of speculators chasing the units on offer. While some buyers may sell their units for capital gain, most are long-term investors or buyers who purchase units as assets for their children.
Moreover, most luxury projects are situated in prime locations, where prices will not fall. Rutt Phanijphand, CEO of Quality Houses, said that demand at the luxury end of the market was continuing to grow because of limited supply, especially in locations suited for high-end residential development. Quality Houses has purchased a plot of land on Sukhumvit for THB 1.8 million per square wah (4 square metres) to develop a luxury condominium, he added.
