Question: What Are The Key Factors Driving Bangkok Condo Property Prices?
Answer:
The influx of Chinese Buyers
In recent years, you would have noticed that there are more and more Mainland Chinese buying properties in Bangkok. And we reckon this is probably just the tip of the iceberg.
A lot of the major Thai developers have still not yet made the effort to penetrate the Chinese market.
You may also notice that the number of Chinese tourists to Bangkok is growing year by year. A good number of them are actually in Bangkok to do business. Eventually, they may also consider buying a property in Bangkok as a 2nd home or for investment.
As Thailand is an important jigsaw puzzle piece for China’s One Belt One Road initiative, you can expect more Chinese investors to hone in on the properties in Bangkok.
Big Scale Infrastructure Expansion By The Thai Government
The Thai Government has commissioned the construction and expansion to the existing rail network in Bangkok. This is a massive project that will eventually double or triple the number of stations Bangkok has now.
Notably, some mega projects include the Bangsue Grand Station, which will be the main interchange for all the different rail lines as well as the terminal for the high-speed rail that will link to China.
Not forgetting also the Eastern Economic Corridor, a USD 45 billion project that aims to industrialize the eastern seaboard of Thailand.
The Rise Of The Upper Middle-Class Thais
Another observation we have is that if you were to visit mega malls like Siam Paragon or Central World, you will actually realize that a lot of the people spending money there are the local Thais themselves.
As the country grew, the upper-middle-class Thais do have a lot more disposable income compared to several years back. Their lifestyle is also changing, such that a lot of them are now looking to stay in good quality condominiums within the city. Whenever a new project launches in central Bangkok, we do also get a lot of interests from the local Thais.
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Whilst the prices are currently on an uptrend, it would be prudent to note that it is not realistic to assume property prices will forever keep running up in a straight line. Same as the Singapore, Hongkong, China or London property market, a correction is always inevitable.
Thus when we recommend Bangkok property to our clients, we would only choose projects that are of good locations and from reputable developers. This is because we always try to mitigate the downside for our clients.
Kevin and I wanted to give our clients a little something so we got you an Entertainer 2019 account. There are loads of restaurants and offers on the app and we hope that you will enjoy it. You will receive a VIP key and here is how to activate it.
Question: How Do I Pay Monthly Maintenance And Utility Bill For My Bangkok Condo?
Answer:
You as the property owner will be billed for electricity and water monthly. The bill will be dropped inside your letterbox.
There are 2 ways to go about paying your utility bills.
Set up a GIRO account so the bills are automatically deducted from your bank account monthly.
Engaged the help of the juristic person to help pay for your bill monthly.
The 2nd option is commonly used by a lot of property owners. The juristic person will help you retrieve the utility bills from the letterbox and pay on your behalf. In order for that to happen, you will first need to deposit a certain amount of monies with the juristic office so they can use this money to help pay your utility bills.
Do note that they will only help you with your electricity and water bills. Should you require their help to pay for other bills such as the internet, you will have to make known to them.
A small administrative fee may be chargeable for this service. It will vary from condo to condo.
Something that we have constantly mentioned was the strength of the Thai Baht. Many of our clients have purchased properties in Bangkok and sold them off and enjoyed not only capital appreciation but the appreciation against their home currency extrapolated their gains. An example would be an Indonesian client who purchased a property in Bangkok for 13.15 million Baht about a decade ago and sold it at 13.85 million Baht recently. Recent transactions in the development were transacting for about 10 per cent more than what he sold off the property for but he wanted a quick sale and thus marked down the asking and sold it in two weeks. He might have made 5 per cent in terms of price appreciation in terms of Baht but Baht had appreciated about 40 per cent against the Indonesian Rupiah and thus he made more than 50 per cent gains when he converted the Baht back into Indonesian Rupiah.
This is something which we have often advocated when looking to invest overseas. The fundamentals of a country do play a significant role in whether the investment will turn out well. Thailand’s fundamentals are strong and in comparison with countries in the region, it sticks out as a safe haven together with Singapore.
Here are two Business Times articles which may be useful for potential investors of Bangkok properties:
Here is an article which I wrote previously. In it, you can see the 10-year history of how the Thai Baht has appreciated. In fact, it is the best performing currency in South East Asia in the past decade.
I have always maintained that never has there been a period in history whereby you have 1.4 billion people getting wealthier by the day. China’s growth and influence in the region are staggering and the Chinese are taking over the Japanese as major investors in Bangkok. Even though the supply of properties is high, the demand from the Chinese is correspondingly high. Of course, there are potential risks to regional growth especially with the trade war and a slowing Chinese economy. These risks are not bestowed on Bangkok alone but to the whole world.
Even though we are positive about the Bangkok property market, we do see a lot of developers launching projects in rather obscure locations. For this reason, we encourage buyers to always look for prime locations and purchase from a reputable developer.
Hi there, thanks for all the support. To our clients from Hong Kong and Singapore, we have gotten Burpple Beyond and Entertainer memberships for you all. (For those clients out of Hong Kong and Singapore, we’re working something out soon.) Here is a short guide on how to activate your Burpple Beyond Annual Membership. Burpple Beyond is a premium dining membership which gives you 1-for-1 dining deals at over 300 restaurants across Singapore!
Here is a video guide:
Alternate method:
Step 1: Download Burpple Beyond from the App Store (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android)
Step 2: Open the Burpple App and click on Beyond at the bottom of the page
Step 3: When you are in Beyond, click on the question mark at the top right of the page
Step 4: Click on Burpple Beyond FAQs
Step 5: Click on “How do I use the gift code to redeem my Burpple Beyond gift?”
Step 6: Click on “here”
Step 7: Enter the gift code which we sent to you and… … ENJOY!
