Thailand is missing out on inbound foreign investment, according to the latest independent study from real estate firm Knight Frank in its ‘Global Cities: The 2016 Report’ that examines the market performance of 20 global cities across the world, of which 10 are in Asia-Pacific.
Foreign private equity investment into Thailand during the first half of the year accounted for just 11 percent of the total share, and was well behind competitor nations Malaysia and Singapore.
Looking at the total real estate transaction volumes within each market during H1 2015, India emerged as the market with the highest percentage of foreign investment at 67 percent, followed by Malaysia (59 percent) and Singapore (43 percent).
Nicholas Holt, Head of Research, Asia Pacific, Knight Frank Asia Pacific, explained: “The growth of foreign private equity investment into the Indian real estate market has been a notable characteristic of the region in the first half of 2015, with U.S. and Singaporean investors the most prominent.
“In Southeast Asia, Malaysia has also seen a significant percentage of foreign interest with groups from Australia, Singapore, China and Canada purchasing assets in the first six months of the year.
“Given the positive economic performance of India, and a potential counter-cyclical approach towards investing in Malaysia (despite the tough conditions), we expect foreign groups to continue to look at these markets in 2016.”
