Archive for October, 2008

Commercial banks should loosen their home-loan approval conditions including income and employment requirements in order to help the property industry, suggests Atip Bijanonda, president of the Thai Condominium Association. Due to the global financial crisis, many banks in Thailand have tightened screening of mortgage applicants for fear of non-performing loans (NPLs), which is ... Full story

Falling demand leaves developers with a large inventory of unsold units Bangkok may find itself with a significant oversupply of city condominiums located around mass-transit systems if demand tumbles next year once the impact of the global economic crisis strikes Thailand's economy. This was the message from property experts yesterday at a seminar entitled "Outlook for ... Full story

Thailand's largest industrial-estate developer, Hemaraj Land and Development, plans to spend Bt20 billion over the next five years on industrial-estate development, property projects and utilities investments. The company currently has six industrial estates in Chon Buri, Rayong and Saraburi provinces and recently entered the property-development business by launching The Park, a ... Full story

Firms revise business plans to boost sales and cash flow Property companies have revised their strategies and will develop smaller residential projects to speed up their sales in the last quarter of the year until next year because of the negative impact of the country's political turmoil and global economy slump, property experts ... Full story

Suchart says industrya key economic driver The Finance Ministry may extend tax and fee-reduction incentives for real estate purchases beyond next March, said Finance Minister Suchart Thada-Thamrongvech. Real estate associations submitted a request for an extension yesterday, along with other proposals, including one that the Bank of Thailand cut interest rates in ... Full story

Low- and mid-priced segments still healthy Of the two storms currently hitting Thailand's property market, local political unrest has had a far greater impact than the global economic panic because most of the buyers are Thais who are affected more by events within their own country, according to Apisit Limlomwongse, managing director of Nexus Property ... Full story

Cost outlook good but economy a concern The developer of the Gaysorn complex will reconsider the timeline for its multi-billion baht residential and retail investment next to its luxury shopping centre due to economic uncertainties. Gaysorn Land Asset Management is reviewing the planned residential and retail project with 40,000 square metres and ... Full story

Developers pursuing visions of expanding Phuket's property market into neighbouring Phangnga and Krabi have run into regulatory problems that impede large hotel developments in Phangnga, says Ramesh K. Hamal, CEO of Green Heritage Group, the developer and marketer of the Serenity Terraces project on the island. Full story

Thailand's property market is about to slow down, despite a downward trend in construction costs, oil prices and interest rates, as buyer confidence is ebbing, says Anant Asavabhokhin, the chief of Land & Houses Plc, the country's biggest residential developer. He said the global financial crisis had raised ... Full story

Thailand's property market is well insulated from the global financial crisis as it is far less dependent on debt than most property markets, said real estate firm CB Richard Ellis Thailand. Chairman David Simister, as a longstanding player in Thai real estate and resort property, said Thai politics had been troubled for over ... Full story