Why prices will not fall

EDITORIAL: “Bangkok property prices will not fall”. Those were my own words on May 24, 2014, speaking live on the breakfast show on Channel NewsAsia in Singapore the day after Thailand’s latest coup.

The presenters, much like those who do not understand the Kingdom’s property and real estate market, were somewhat shocked. Their natural reaction, like those around the world watching news broadcasts and reading newspaper front pages, was to assume that negative news means that property prices would fall.

They did not.

Again Thailand featured of many newspaper front pages and broadcasts around the world on August 18 earlier this year, and again property prices in central Bangkok did not fall.

The fact is that up to 90 percent of property purchases in central Bangkok are made by Thai buyers, and throughout the years they have become accustomed to events such as those of the past few years. It’s the foreign buyers that become spooked – and ultimate miss out on the fact that property prices have continued to rise throughout the coups, the states of emergencies and other factors that would likely cause prices in other countries to fall.

Thailand’s property prices are far more susceptible to economic factors – as we are starting to see now especially in the suburban areas of the city. Whether those price declines will encroach into the centre of the city is anyone’s guess but my personal feeling is that they will not.

Land is scare and the desire remains to live in the beating heart of Bangkok.

That’s why, at least in the centre of the city, I still maintain that “Bangkok property prices will not fall”.

Feel free to disagree. These are my opinions. Send your balanced views to andrew.batt@dotproperty.co.th. Anonymity will be granted if requested. Alternatively you can leave your comment at the bottom of this article.