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Budget condominiums near mass transit lines and their planned extensions are expected to be hot sellers at the Thailand Condo Expo 2007 according to Atip Bijanonda, president of the Thai Condominium Association.
He said that locations near the subway and the Skytrain including the latter's new extensions in the Onnuj and Taksin areas remained attractive. Others promising locations are along the planned Red, Blue and Purple light rail lines.
''Condo buyers will consider location and their budget as the first priority,'' Mr Atip said, adding that most buyers did not want to spend more than 10,000 baht a month in mortgage payments.
Also important to many buyers is the opportunity to resell or rent out their units. If the apartment market remains strong in the next few years, condominiums that are seen as replacements for apartments would benefit in the rental market.
At the fair that is taking place through tomorrow at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, developers are offering 100 condominium projects worth about 60 billion baht. The association expects sales of 1.2 billion baht from the event.
Three financial institutions Bangkok Bank, Siam Commercial Bank and Kasikornbank are also offering interest rates of 0.25 percentage points lower than normal rates.
However, employment has also emerged as a bigger concern among prospective property buyers, said Mr Atip, who is also deputy managing director of the developer Supalai Plc.
''Continuous closings of factories might intensify the property market slowdown, which has already been affected by the political situation,'' he said.
Meanwhile, the more restrictive amendments proposed to the Foreign Business Act could also have a bad impact on foreign investment, he added.
Mr Atip suggested that there should be amnesty for foreign property firms so they have time to adjust to new regulations.
Bangkok Post: (11 July 2007) |
