Weakness seen in Bangkok luxe condo market 
Analysts forecast 10-20% price fall in H109 as foreign buyer pool dries up

The luxury condominium market will dive next year as the global economic downturn continues to dry up the much-needed pool of cash-rich foreign investors, local property analysts said.

Condo blues: Thai law prevents foreigners from buying land, but they are allowed to purchase up to 49 per cent of the saleable space in a condominium, hence the sector's dependence on overseas investors

They predict that luxury condominium prices would drop by 10-20 per cent in the first half of 2009. Current high prices will stifle local demand, as the domestic political turmoil undermines investor sentiment, they said.

Despite Bangkok's luxury condominiums being relatively cheap - at around 100,000-150,000 baht (S$4,300-6,500) per square metre (psm), 8-12 times less than a similar property in Singapore or Hong Kong, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Research - demand has dropped off, analysts said.

'Luxury condos depend on foreign buyers. With the global downturn, there are no buyers left,' said Thaninee Satirareungchai, property analyst, KGI Securities (Thailand).

'The price of the physical property should be corrected down by at least 15-20 per cent next year.'

UOB Kay Hian (Thailand) expects sector prices to drop by 10-15 per cent to stimulate demand from Thai buyers, who tend to opt for luxury single-detached houses rather than condominiums.

Thai law prevents foreigners from buying land, but they are allowed to purchase up to 49 per cent of the saleable space in a condominium, hence the sector's dependence on overseas investors.

A fall will provide investment opportunities for bargain hunters, said Veena Naidu, head of research, UOB Kay Hian (Thailand).

'I think the prices will bottom out before Q2 next year,' she said. 'Projects that were launched 18-24 months ago are being completed and coming onto the market now, so investors still have time to survey the market.'

CB Richard Ellis (Thailand), a leading realtor, said that predictions of an across-the-board sector drop were inaccurate, and that it had seen no evidence of falling prices in existing luxury properties.

It said that current resale values at projects such as the TCC Capital Land Athenee Residence remained at 125,000- 150,000 baht psm.

Projects being sold off-plan will be affected by the decreasing pool of foreign investors and are likely to lower their prices, said James Pitchon, executive director, CB Richard Ellis (Thailand).

'Some luxury projects increased their notional prices after units at the Sukhothai Residences sold at an average of more than 200,000 baht psm. But a number of those developers were not able to sell at the recalibrated prices.

'We expect a return to the pre-Sukhothai prices, where developers that upwardly adjusted their prices revert to what they were six months ago.'

The biggest factors in Bangkok's surging luxury property prices were rising land and commodity costs, he said. While the price of crude has dropped, said Mr Pitchon, the value of Bangkok's CBD land was not contracting, adding that plunging commodity prices were unlikely to affect the sector in the next two years.

'Commodity prices have fallen, so in theory new construction costs will also fall. There will be very few, if any, new projects launched in the next 24 months, so we are not going to have competing products with the new lower construction costs.'  - 2008 December 9    BUSINESS TIMES

Thailand's property market is expected to rebound in 2007 amid expectations of falling interest rates, after a year of uncertainties that plagued consumers' confidence, analysts said

Since the bloodless coup in September, which capped months of political turmoil, analysts said confidence among buyers has improved as the broader economy appears to be picking up steam.

Despite concerns over tough new foreign currency rules, an expected fall in interest rates and more stable oil prices could also benefit the overall economy and the property sector this year.

'Demand will pick up in 2007 . . . as interest rates are expected to be cut in the second quarter, while fuel prices are unlikely to rise further,' said Patti Tomaitrichitr, a property analyst at KGI Securities.

'Consumer confidence has gradually recovered as political uncertainties diminished,' she said.

Last year's market will be flat from 2005 with 68,000-70,000 units sold, she added.

Economists forecast that interest rates - now at an eight-year high of 5.0 per cent - will drop by a quarter or a half point in the second quarter as declining oil prices ease inflationary pressure.

'The rate cut would boost consumers' purchasing power and stimulate their spending,' said Athip Bijanonda, president of the Thai Condominium Association.

The property market could expand by 6.0 per cent if rates were cut by 1.0 per cent, he predicted, adding that interest rates are the only key factor affecting the property market this year.

Despite the political turmoil in 2006, real estate agency Jones Lang LaSalle said the property market finished the year with solid demand across the sector.

'The mid-to-low priced residential units, in particular, have remained generally healthy in the face of stiffer competition from new supply and more caution on the part of buyers,' managing director Suphin Mechuchep said.

'The mass transit projects earlier approved by the interim government will have direct and tangible impacts on the Bangkok property market. These projects will boost government spending, resulting in more employment and stimulating the overall economy.'

The post-coup government in November endorsed five rail lines in Bangkok worth US$4.5 billion, with construction on three of them set to begin in 2007.

The capital already has three rail lines - two elevated and one subway - which have helped fuel strong demand for urban condos throughout 2006, said property consultant CB Richard Ellis Thailand.

'Mid-end to low-end condominiums with proximity to the SkyTrain or subway stations have performed very well,' it said in a paper released in early December.

Richard Ellis also said hotels are one of the best-performing sectors in Bangkok, with three new hotels opened in 2006.

KGI's Ms Patti said the property market would pick up in 2007, but said it was still 'not bullish'.

She expected the sector to grow by 5.0 per cent in terms of market value - in line with overall economic growth - and almost 10 per cent on units sold, she said.

But Kasikorn Research Centre warned that the Bank of Thailand's tough foreign currency rules could hurt the purchasing power of major property buyers.

To curb baht speculation, the central bank last fortnight imposed a 30 per cent reserve requirement on short-term capital inflows. The regulation caused a 15 per cent plunge in the stock market that day and investor confidence has still not fully recovered.

'If the stock market remains sluggish this year, the wealth of middle income people would be affected and they are the main buyers of the property market,' said Pimonwan Mahujchariyavong, Kasikorn's head of macroeconomic research. 'Sentiment is also critical for the residential business.' - AFP    2 January 2007

Bangkok property boom slows

Bangkok's four-year property boom has slowed dramatically this year, with a 24 per cent drop in new home starts.

But few here worry about a repeat of the bubble that popped with the 1997 financial crisis and experts say the drop shows the market is correcting itself.

Sopon Pornchokchai, managing director for the private Agency for Real Estate Affairs, projects that new housing starts will fall by nearly one quarter this year to 51,756 units from 68,052 units last year.

The value of those homes is expected to drop even more steeply, by about 40 per cent to 156.5 billion baht (S$6.5 billion), from 254.4 billion baht last year.

But Mr Sopon dismisses fears of another bubble. 'This is not a bubble, this is just an adjustment in the market,' he said. 'Last year, there were so many luxury units, with high-priced condo units, high-priced penthouses. People realised the high-priced condos were speculative goods.'

Developers this year have focused on more affordable, middle-class housing, Mr Sopon said. But demand has slowed as rising oil prices have taken a bite out of Thais' incomes and driven up construction costs.

And unlike in the 1990s, Thai banks have become much more cautious lenders, making it unlikely that Thailand will see the bubbles that many fear are emerging in other markets around the world, said James Pitchon, executive director at CB Richard Ellis (Thailand). 'The main reason is that banks have put the brakes on pretty early on,' he said. 'There are few lenders, and banks are more cautious.'

Rising construction costs - especially rising fuel costs as Thailand has phased out its diesel subsidies - and increasing interest rates have made it more expensive to buy a home, he said. 'I'm quite optimistic in the long term,' Mr Pitchon said.

Arthur Napolitano, managing director of the upscale developer Kudu, said the market remains healthy, but that buyers are becoming choosier. 'We see people taking more time to make their decisions, because at the same time they're looking to get product below the advertised price,' he said. Some developers have begun offering discounts or promotions, like giving away furniture, he said. 'I think it is quite healthy. The market can't go up forever.'

Underpinning sales of upper-end homes in Bangkok and in beach resort areas like Pattaya, Phuket or Samui are foreign buyers, Mr Napolitano said.

Some are expatriates who have lived in Thailand for years already, others are looking for an investment, and many are semi-retired people looking for a second home, he said.

Mr Pitchon said more and more Europeans are finding Thailand an attractive place to spend a few months of the year as Bangkok and the main beach resort areas offer more and more creature comforts, like access to international media and world-class retail and grocery stores.

But foreigners, who are legally barred from owning land in Thailand, face significant bureaucratic hurdles to buying property, and that has limited what could be a significant demand, Mr Napolitano said. 'If the obstacle were removed, then the market in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya would be very buoyant.' - AFP   17 Oct 2005

Bangkok Property Synopsis

Bangkok's residential property market has rebounded strongly since the Asian financial crisis. Condominiums, which foreigners are allowed to buy, have made a big comeback with some 12,000 units launched since 2003. Having seen robust sales due to pent-up demand, the market has moderated somewhat this year. There are fewer launches, but sales are still steady, driven more by real demand from homeowners than speculators.

Compared with the bottom of the market in 1999/2000, home prices have risen 40-50 per cent while new projects launched in the past two years have set new pricing benchmarks, partly due to their better quality as well as higher construction costs.

The new condominium projects that are of investment grade have seen 15-30 per cent price increases from their launch prices in the resale market. Their prices currently range from 70,000 baht (S$2,837) per sq metre to over 100,000 baht psm, rising as the location moves from Sukhumvit to Sathorn and Lumpini.

Monthly rents of these condominiums are between 70,000 and 100,000 baht, translating to yields of 5-7 per cent. Rental demand from expatriates is expected to be stable, following a 9 per cent growth in their numbers last year.

However, understanding what the expatriate wants - in terms of location, design, specifications and building management - is critical when assessing which investment property can generate good rents and take-up.

Rental returns and capital appreciation are very project-specific in the Bangkok market. Prime projects currently being marketed include Narathorn Place, the first pre-built high-end condominium in Bangkok's CBD and WaterMark Chaopraya River, a landmark riverside condominium.

While the market is now in a more stable phase, the investor can still expect reasonable returns and price upside for good quality developments.  - 2004 Oct    SINGAPORE BUSINESS TIMES

Office Market

BANGKOK - Though a fizzing economy is demanding more desk space and tax breaks are luring regional corporate headquarters, it will be another few years before climbing rents trigger a boom in Bangkok's office construction. Yet even when more quality offices become available in the Thai capital, foreign companies will still think twice about setting up shop due to communications problems and poor English skills.

Only office rents in places such as Harare, Zimbabwe; Johannesburg, South Africa; or Manila, the Philippines are cheaper than Bangkok. Real Bangkok average rents are around 300 baht (US$7.25) per square foot, with what passes for Grade A - the best quality offices - in Bangkok hovering at 450 baht. Rents, however, are most definitely heading north.

"Office rents are set to continue rising with little new supply. Bangkok is moving from being one of the cheapest places in the world for offices," said surveyor James Pitchon, executive director of CB Richard Ellis (Thailand).

Supply, or rather a lack thereof, is why prices are rising, prices between grades are shrinking and vacancies are plunging, especially for top-quality offices or mediocre space in good locations. "The difference between Grade B and Grade A rents is getting closer. There is limited supply. In the next couple of years the rentals will be going up, especially in the next 12 months," said Kelvin Choi, marketing director of China Resources' (CRC) All Seasons Place.

Only a handful of downtown towers will open over the next year, notably Central World Plaza Tower, a half-completed block of office space next to the new Asoke-Sukhumvit underground and Skytrain stations, and another recently completed office building at Sukhumvit 33. "We don't expect significant new office developments for the next 12 months," said Pitchon.

Even with this supply drought, rents will only creep higher as tenants keep soaking up empty space. The crunch point at which rents will start accelerating is just a few years away. "[Rents] will be moving up slowly towards 550 baht realistically in the medium term," said Jim Chang, senior executive vice president of City Realty.

Breaking ground on a new office tower now means betting rents will rise 50-60% during the next few years; a gamble few developers are willing to take when the residential or retail sector offers better returns for less risk. "There's a shortage, it's a market that we're interested in, but nothing in the next two or three years," said David Nardone, president of Hemaraj Land.

Consequently, developers are unlikely to seriously consider office projects until late 2006 or 2007, a decade after Thailand's economy crashed and office construction effectively froze. The skeletons of around 500 condominium and office towers litter the city's skyline still - half-built reminders of that painful era. Many are only fit for demolition.

When construction does pick up, both landlords and tenants will be demanding quality equal to or better than the benchmark-setting All Seasons Place that opened a few years ago in the heart of Bangkok, drawing many blue-chip tenants, including most recently Microsoft.

Since then, rents in CRC Tower, the tallest of three office towers alongside a Conrad hotel and serviced apartments in All Seasons and half-way between the American and British embassies, have risen from 350 baht a square foot to more than 500 baht. Choi expects vacancies to fall to 10% and rents to hit 550 baht by the end of the year.

Even so, All Season's developer CRC, focused on mainland China power, property and retail, is not rushing into more Bangkok projects. It will be a few years before it starts developing land holdings close to Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, due to replace the current Don Muang Airport in September 2005.

More quality projects, such as the office and apartment complex that Golden Land will launch next year on prime Sathorn Road, will not be enough to persuade many major companies to move their operations from Hong Kong or Singapore.

Bangkok's traffic remains a major move-killer, despite the city's first subway opening in July. Three more planned subway lines will not be ready for five years at least. Bangkok needs 200-300 miles of mass transit lines to link all of the city's districts. Similar-size cities like London and Moscow have urban railway lines running 600 miles or more.

Potential Thai employees' poor English skills can also dissuade corporations from picking Bangkok, despite the city's competitive rents and living costs. Internet bandwidth and speeds are simply not up to scratch. It is also illegal to route international calls through the Internet, something that saves firms in Hong Kong or Singapore significant amounts of money.

And another competitor is also looming large, the same one threatening Hong Kong and Singapore: Shanghai.               - By David Fullbrook    29 July 2004    ASIA TIMES  

Thailand's property market is entering a new growth cycle as rising consumer spending and disposable income boosts home sales and softens painful memories of the property crash that sparked the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

Property developers and analysts are unanimous that Bangkok property is on the verge of a new boom in which prices could double in four years.

The proof is there to see. Major home builder Golden Land Property Development Company sold 2.2 billion baht (S$89.1 million) of detached houses last year, and aims to more than double sales to 4.6 billion baht this year for homes in the 7 million to 8 million baht price range.

Golden Land reported a net profit of 252 million baht in 2001 and net profit of 185 million baht in the first nine months of 2002, illustrating the improving fortunes of developers

Thailand's biggest home builder, Land and Houses, reckons low interest rates will double demand to 80,000 units in four years. James Pitchon, executive director, CB Richard Ellis (Thailand), said: 'We've got the lowest interest rates in history. I don't think it's a consumer credit bubble. Thais personally are geared very low compared with people in more mature Asian markets.'

Bangkok Bank, for instance, charges 3.75 per cent in the first year, rising to 6.75 per cent after the third year. Foreigners cannot buy landed property in Thailand but are allowed to own condos.

Sales of townhouses and shophouses rocketed 80 per cent in the first nine months of last year compared with the same period of 2001, with 6,234 new home registrations last year.

Detached single-family houses saw the beginnings of a bullish phase with more than 6 per cent growth in the first nine months of last year. Mr Pitchon said: 'We are most definitely in the initial stages of a new property cycle. The market started slowing in 1996 and stalled from 1997-99. In 2001 we saw the initial signs of a return of activity in the single detached house market. That has continued to grow and has spread in the domestic residential sector to include condos.'

Activity, however, is still well below that in the boom years, and growth is resuming from a very low base. For example, the number of detached houses completed in 2002 was only 75 per cent of that completed in 1988, which was the beginning of the previous property cycle.

But Mr Pitchon said: 'Some analysts tend to forget that the percentage of the population that can afford middle-class housing is substantially greater than it was in 1998. There are more people with greater disposable income than there were in 1998, as can be seen from the growth in car ownership and the growth of white-collar workers.'

Growing demand from first-time buyers reflects social change in Thailand, as people move from the extended family to the nuclear family. Also, people are upgrading from shophouses, where they lived above their business, to detached homes.

The drivers for demand have been present for a while. The economy has stabilised since the 1997 financial crisis which halted building.

Now, for the first time in almost 10 years, developers have been able to buy plots in midtown locations at prices that allow them to build affordable housing. The economic crisis has persuaded people and banks holding land in these locations to sell at prices lower than 1997 peak levels, and this has allowed developers to build competitively.

During the last boom, high prices forced developers to build far from the city. A Golden Land official said: 'We don't have an old landbank, so our projects are located on land we have newly bought about 15-20 km from the Bangkok city centre.'

The condo market, however, has been in the doldrums, with sales shrinking 60 per cent in the first nine months of last year compared with 2001. Nothing new has been built since 1997, though some projects will come on to the market this year.

Total office space in Thailand has grown 3.5 times to 5.3 million sq metres in 2003, from 1.5 million sqm in 1991. Bangkok rentals are the sixth cheapest in the world, with grade A space about 500 baht (S$20) per sqm, inclusive of management charges.

'Commercial rents in Hong Kong and Singapore continue to fall, but in Thailand the only thing falling is the vacancy rate,' Mr Pitchon said. The vacancy rate for offices has dropped from 37 per cent in 1999 to below 25 per cent at the end of 2002. There will be no new office supply this year and very little next year. The only major development expected is the completion in late-2004 of the World Trade Centre office tower in Rama 1 Road, construction of which was halted during the financial crisis. The Central Group has now taken over the project from the previous owners under a restructuring deal.

The property boom has already benefited commercial banks that are plugged into developers, such as state-owned Government Housing Bank and listed Siam Commercial Bank.

Andrew Maule, head of research at ABN Amro Securities, said: 'These are the two main banks with large market shares in mortgage loans. The banks that are focused on mortgage loans have done better in terms of having higher loan growth and profits than other banks.'

Siam Commercial Bank has been the best-performing bank stock, rising 100 per cent over the past year to 32 baht at present. Its stellar performance is only partly due to its exposure to the property sector, and is mainly accounted for by booming consumer loans.       -  By Harish Mehta in Bangkok       Singapore Straits Times   2 Jan 2003

Bangkok property prices may not be moving, but commercial tenants are. More and more big businesses operating in Bangkok are relocating out of the old and into the new.

Since the Asian Crisis, Bangkok's commercial property market has segmented into three distinct categories. Grade A buildings are fitted with the highest quality amenities, built within the last 5-6 years and usually near the city centre. Top-notch buildings generally have larger floor plates with pillars located on the perimeter rather than middle of the structure, allowing companies to maximize floor space--specifications most multinational companies prefer. Grade B towers usually have one or the other, either high quality amenities or a convenient location; Grade C buildings have neither.

That segmentation was less clear before the crisis. During the mid-1990s boom, commercial rents were pushed as high as 700 baht ($15.48) per square metre in Bangkok's central business district. Those high rents, along with nasty traffic jams, pushed many international companies entering the market to the city's cheaper, less congested perimeter, where rents were on average 50% lower. Then the crash hit and hundreds of companies went under, leaving city-centre vacancy rates at a hollow 70%. By 1998, half of the downtown prime properties saw their occupancy rates plumb the 5%-10% level.

To fill the space, many Grade A landlords adopted aggressive pricing strategies, cutting rents by nearly half to around 325-350 baht per square metre, on a par with the rates of many Grade B and C buildings in outlying areas. This strategy has paid off. Over the last two years, vacancy rates in the central business district have improved to 28%. Outside the centre the picture is different: Grade B and C buildings, particularly on Vipavadee-Rangsit Road, are starting to see vacancy rates as high as 80%.

"It has been a massive shift," says Guy Hollis, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle in Bangkok. "In general it hasn't been new companies occupying space, but big companies relocating closer to the action," he adds.

Last year 100,000 square metres of Grade A space was taken up, led by Unilever's 15,000-square-metre move from the outskirts to a more central location. Jones Lang LaSalle estimates that uptake this year will touch 110,000 square metres. Newly-licensed mobile-phone operator Orange alone will fill 16,000 square metres of Grade A space. Commercial leases in Thailand are generally on a three-year cycle, and many more multinational contracts are up this year. "We expect most multinationals to move up rather than stay put," says Mark Schultz, a commercial-department executive at FPD Savills in Bangkok.

The early birds have won an advantage. Prime central locations, like the Q-House and Mercury Tower on Ploenchit Road, have reached full capacity. Now, even mid-town Grade A locations, like Sun Towers, are turning on the No Vacancy sign.

With new construction in the doldrums, and vacancy rates falling fast, Grade A rents are firming. A CB Richard Ellis report notes that in central Bangkok Grade A average rents edged up from 376 to 390 baht per square metre at the end of 2000. But executive director James Pitchon says that Bangkok is still the cheapest place in Asia--and the fourth-cheapest in the world--to rent office space.

UNDER INCREASING PRESSURE to deliver on election promises of economic growth, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government is hoping to pull the rabbit out of the hat with a package of stimulus measures for the property market, which has yet to recover from the crash of 1997.

Property fees and taxes were initially slashed under the previous government in August 1999 for a two-year period. Since then, there have been signs of a tentative renewal of interest in the homebuyers' market, as lenders compete for borrowers against a background of low interest rates on savings deposits.

"The home-buying front has actually been quite lively since the last quarter of 2000," says Somyos Chamchoy, senior researcher at the Thai Farmers Bank's research centre. He points to figures collected from permit-issuing authorities nationwide, which show that applications were made to develop 4.8 million square metres of residential property across the country last year, up 28% from 3.8 million square metres in 1999. Residential developments now account for 67% of the primary market, with commercial property trailing a distant second at 22.8%.

Under the measures, some of which are new and some extended from the previous administration, homebuyers and investors will now benefit from reduced costs until the end of 2002. Property registration and transfer fees will remain at 0.01%, compared with 2% before the cuts, property sales tax will stay at 0.11%, compared with the previous rate of 3.33%, and a mortgage registration fee of 0.01% will still apply, instead of 1%.

LENDING BLOCKED
Civil servants and those from lower-income brackets will also benefit from hefty tax allowances of up to 100,000 baht ($2,500) spent on buying a house over the coming two-year period. The Government Housing Bank is also planning to offer up to 100% home mortgages for civil servants.

Whatever the government does, residential-property developers say they are still mired in the chicken-and-egg problem of bad debt. At the end of March 2001, bad debt in the property and construction sectors totalled 213 billion baht. Until the banks and their borrowers can realistically price the assets that are held as collateral, the bad-debt overhang prevents fresh lending. The sooner this is done, the sooner fresh lending for mortgages can begin.

"[The government's measures] are not going to work magic," says Issara Boonyang of Kanda Housing, a medium-sized residential developer that has survived the years since 1997 only through injections of working capital from outside the industry. "Still, it's better than nothing. Things can't get any worse."

Whether the first flutterings of life in the property sector develop into something more robust will depend largely on the effectiveness of the planned Thai Asset Management Corporation in sorting out the tangle of bad debt, but also on public confidence in the wider economy.

Burned by the experience of the Asian Crisis, when Thai property developers saw their huge land banks become virtually worthless overnight, property company Sansiri has discovered a new and relatively low-risk line of business in property management.

This is something of an uncharted frontier for local companies and potential clients alike. Landlords of office buildings and other facilities who want to attract blue-chip corporate tenants often favour international property-management chains. But there may simply be too much business for the international companies to handle.

"We believe there is a lot of room to grow in this area, as there are few big-name players in the market," says a research report published by BNP Paribas Peregrine Securities recently. The report estimates that Sansiri's property-management business has room to grow by 35%.

Thailand's serviced-apartment market is also booming, according to a recent report by property consultant Cushman & Wakefield, which calls it "one of the largest and the most competitive in Asia."

Sansiri--which with a market capitalization of 1.3 billion baht ($28.4 million) is not yet a major player--now manages some 2 million square metres, across 40 properties. These include office buildings, housing projects, condos and resorts. It has doubled the volume of this kind of business since the start of the year, partly because of the relatively low level of borrowing required.

"There's no urgent need for us to borrow, as we see the Thai economy slowly picking up. And we have no land bank at present. We will buy land when there's need, not sitting on lots of land like in the past. The most important thing is that we can borrow when business opportunities arise," says Srettha Thavisin, president of Sansiri.

To do this, the company needs to find a rich vein of usable, older apartment buildings for renovation. There is certainly no shortage of vacant buildings in Bangkok, but not all of them are suitable. Some are too small, and others are structurally substandard.

"We had to settle for older, structurally sound, say, Grade C+ buildings, in Grade A locations, especially those with easy access to the Bangkok Skytrain route" says Srettha.

Sansiri is now looking to expand its relationship with government departments, which are just beginning to look at outsourcing as a way of meeting their property-management needs. It already manages the central government Housing Bank headquarters, and hopes to land a deal soon with the Bangkok city government as well. It also manages Thammasat University's sports centre.

Starwood Capital--a U.S.-based company which injected $1.9 million into Sansiri post-crisis and currently holds a 7% stake--has an option it can exercise until the end of next year to increase its holdings in Sansiri up to 51%. But the weak baht may make the option much less attractive.

"We aim to be in the top three Thai property firms," Srettha says. "Otherwise you sweat for nothing. With so many of us fighting for a depleting pool of investment resources, being small-cap is not so beautiful."

PROJECT NAME: Noble House Phayathai
DEVELOPER: Noble Development
This 30-storey condominium is located on Phayathai Road in central Bangkok not far from the Skytrain. Four units are available for sale, with 115 square metres, three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a spacious living and dining area. An international-standard sports club offers swimming pool, recreation area, squash court, fitness centre and sauna. Parking spaces are provided. The units are offered for sale at 4.5 million baht ($98,515).

PROJECT NAME: All Seasons Mansion
DEVELEOPER: All Seasons Properties
All Seasons Mansion is a premium-grade condominium building on Wireless Road, in Bangkok's central business district. There are currently 25 fully furnished units for rent in sizes ranging from 136-178 square metres. These units have either two or three bedrooms and bathrooms, large living room and dining area, equipped kitchen and maid's quarters. Full facilities are provided. Monthly rent ranges from 70,000 to 100,000 baht.

PROJECT NAME: Kallista Residences
DEVELOPER: The Ascott
Located on Sukhumvit Road, Kallista Residences offers 61 three- or four- bedroom suites and a penthouse for rent. Fully furnished apartments range from 315-620 square metres. These units come equipped with split-level air-conditioning, two IDD phone lines, bedrooms with walk-in storage space, en suite bathrooms, baths and an ergonomically designed kitchen. Monthly rent ranges from 150,000 baht to 350,000 baht.      - Far Eastern Economic Review

PROJECT NAME: All Seasons Mansion
DEVELOPER: Chinese Resources
Located in the central business district, All Seasons Mansion has 185 fully furnished units up for sale, including two-bedroom units of 139 square metres and three-bedroom units of 182 square metres, all with balcony, maid's room and parking space, with use of outdoor swimming pool, garden, squash court and meeting room. Prices range from 85,000 baht ($1,876) to 150,000 baht per square metre. Completion scheduled for the end of 2001.

PROJECT NAME: Lumpini Place
DEVELOPER: LPN Ltd.
This19-storey condominium on Sathorn Road in central Bangkok was completed in the same year that the Asian Crisis hit Thailand, sending the country's financial system into a meltdown and destroying any appetite on the part of property investors. It still has 34 fully furnished three-bedroom apartments of 323 square metres to sell. Facilities include swimming pool and gym. Prices range from 12 million to 16 million baht per unit.

PROJECT NAME: Siri Apartment Sukhumvit 12
DEVELOPER: Sansiri
This complex is still looking for tenants to rent its luxury apartments. Despite the location--near the Asoke sky-train station--and facilities, there are still units available ranging from two to four bedrooms, with a floor area ranging from 190 to 350 square metres. Shared facilities include swimming pool, gym, sauna, landscaped garden and parking space. The company also has eight units in a block of luxury apartments for rent in Wireless Road.

SNAPSHOT: PHUKET

PROJECT NAME: Sunset Residence
DEVELOPER: Sinsiam Development
Due for completion in January 2002, this low-rise residential compound is located on quiet Kalim beach within walking distance of Patong beach. The two-condo buildings comprise 60 units, with one-bedroom and studio apartments available. Each 60-square-metre one-bedroom unit costs 2.8 million baht ($61,162), while 44-square-metre studios are 2.1 million baht. Club facilities include swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, gym and dining room.

PROJECT NAME: Nakatani Village
DEVELOPER: Nakatani Group
Sitting on a cliff overlooking the Andaman sea, these three residential projects comprise Ban Chai Lei, Nakatani Village and Kamala Cottage. The site is located between Kamala and Patong beach. The houses are designed with traditional Thai architecture with Western interiors, and some units are available for rental. Cottages in Ban Chai Lei have five bedrooms each, while Nakatani Village houses have three bedrooms.

PROJECT NAME: The Sands Condominium
DEVELOPER: Phuket Landvest
The developer of this low-rise condominium complex in Nai Harn beach has a number of units available for rental--with both short- and long-term rental periods catered for. All units have two bedrooms and are fully furnished, with two bathrooms and a fully equipped kitchen. Facilities within the complex include a swimming pool and restaurant, parking spaces, round-the-clock security, and maid service.

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