Thailand property market booms

Source：Knight Knox International Release Date：2013-03-29 214

Metalworking

Global property investment specialist Knight Knox International explains how ambitious infrastructural plans have resulted in a pioneering upsurge in Thailand’s investment potential, identifying Pattaya and Bangkok as key destinations worthy of investment.

Thailand’s ambitious programme to invest US$72 billion on a raft of infrastructure projects over the following four years has shown that Thailand is certainly not feeling the chill of the global economic crisis.

The main initiative of the plan is an expansive system of rail networks connecting Thailand’s major Northern provinces, including Chaing Mai and Bangkok.

When you combat these plans with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) goals to eliminate tariffs and to open new Free Trade Areas, it is easy to see why large volumes of Foreign Direct Investment is currently flowing into Thailand.

The Bangkok Post reported that January alone drew 25 billion baht ($811m dollars) into the country, resulting in a breath-taking year-on- year increase of 68.58%.

These infrastructural plans, which are expected to improve accessibility across the country, are set to aid Thailand’s already-thriving tourist trade. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports reported that over 22 million tourists visited Thailand last year, holidaying mainly in the popular regions of Pattaya and Bangkok.

These popular holiday regions are both undeniably bustling cities; however they each have their own distinctive features worthy of investment.

Pattaya is a vibrant beachfront city lined with mind-blowing architecture and luxury hotels. The condominium market is extremely popular with investors in the area, with the second half of 2012 seeing the launch of over 7,000 new units and a take-up rate as high as 69%. This rate is set to rise with the imminent arrival of the Cartoon Network water park which is set to open later this year.

Travel 150km north and you will arrive at Bangkok; a city abundant with magnificent palaces, grand temples and traditional street markets. These features have helped its tourist status grow to an unconceivable level, as shown by a recent accolade awarded to Bangkok by the Travel & Leisure Magazine, who voted it the best city to visit in the world in 2012.

Bangkok is a city currently reaping the rewards of the recent infrastructure plans. The city is at the heart of the new rail system, with five mass transit extension lines set for the area. Construction recently began on two of the lines; the purple line and the blue line, and developers have raised condominiums up across these new networks at a rapid pace, with 12,300 units completed along the blue network alone in the last three years. Investors, in 2012, were able to sell these units at prices 12% higher than they were in 2011, because of the growing mass of people who are willing to pay a higher price to live in this prestigious city.

Specialist property investment companies such as Knight Knox International have long acknowledged the potential of these West Coast areas and have a wide range of developments available to investors from established Thai developers.

“The Thai condo market is booming at the moment”, comments Lee Chettoe, Sales Manager at Knight Knox International. “The country’s new infrastructure project has helped transform the condNew Balance Popular Collection