Bangkok Has 100,000 Empty Apartments. It Could Soon Have More

[mickey rat]

7 hours ago, BestB said:

Interesting OP, considering that only 49% can be foreign owned , And OP suggesting market is dead because Chinese are not buying   Does that mean 51% of thai also not buying ? So perhaps it’s not the virus but crappy local economy that’s the problem ?

I do believe they are allowed to buy condos.

 

Besides the wu virus, I believe the air pollution is having an big impact as they are very aware of the current situation in Thailand. It would be moronic to assume they would opt to leave one toxic and polluted environment to by a condo in an even more toxic and polluted environment. I believe the real estate market and tourism, with exception to Phuket, Krabi and anywhere south of Sarat Thani, will continue to decline until they clean up their act which I don't see happening any time soon! Right now in Hua Hin it's 173 AQI! ????

 

 

[BestB]

2 hours ago, sahibji said:

economy does have a role but more important for the domestic buyers is whether the pricing is for the "foreigners" or fairly priced for the local consumers.

If according to OP so many are empty that means no one is buying , you can list whatever reasons you like , bottom line remains the same . However OP is saying reason why no one buying is because Chinese are not here, and that is not the reason why 51% thai stopped buying ????

[BestB]

3 minutes ago, mickey rat said:

I do believe they are allowed to buy condos.

 

Besides the wu virus, I believe the air pollution is having an big impact as they are very aware of the current situation in Thailand. It would be moronic to assume they would opt to leave one toxic and polluted environment to by a condo in an even more toxic and polluted environment. I believe the real estate market and tourism, with exception to Phuket, Krabi and anywhere south of Sarat Thani, will continue to decline until they clean up their act which I don't see happening any time soon! Right now in Hua Hin it's 173 AQI! ????

 

 

Yes they are but foreign quota is 49% , 51% must be thai owned.

 

My comment had to do more with inaccurate OP claiming condos are not selling because Chinese are not buying . Chinese not buying does not stop thai from buying but since so many empty condos , it means no one is buying ????

[newnative]

3 hours ago, BobbyL said:

I reckon it is far, far higher than that. 

 

We have recently bought a house, but actually inquired about purchasing our rented two - bed condo near Asoke last year. There are two towers there with 917 units in total. Just over 200 of those were still unsold. 

 

I would guess the total number must be well into the hundreds of thousands with the amount they are building and trying to sell at ludicrous prices. I saw the other day the prices in that new Esse complex near Asoke are around 8M for a 38SQM hotel room ????

   Yes!  And the 48sqm 1 bedrooms are 12 to 15MB!!!  For 1 (count 'em) bedroom and 1 (count 'em) bathroom!  Even if I were rich I would be saying no way Jose. 

[SoilSpoil]

42 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

They could turn the entire real estate market around pretty quickly if they allowed foreigners to buy land, houses, and get mortgages. But, no way no how.

 

Not yet. We are waiting, or even anticipating, on that to happen. I dont see any other way how this country will progress socio-economically. And when the market opens, it's bingo. 

Edited February 24, 2020 by SoilSpoil

[fruitman]

2 hours ago, Isaan sailor said:

Hmmm...so Chinese condo buyers missing—-and USD/Baht has made a modest recovery in the last three weeks....

Could we have a correlation?  Did the flood of payments (perhaps in USD) cause the Baht to rise astronomically for the past three years?

In that case the baht will only get stronger soon...when the chinese can travel again and the crisis is even deeper in china they all want to park their money outside of china....so thai condo's will sell very well again.

[CGW]

1 hour ago, SteveK said:

What you say is true. However, if you were retiring in Thailand today as opposed to 20 years ago, would you still be willing to chuck down a huge chunk of your savings to purchase a property with so many potential risks on the horizon? I suspect that someone who is obviously intelligent such as yourself would think long and hard about doing so in the current climate, there are just so many unknowns for ex-pats in Thailand today and in the short/medium-term future.

 

Just because you did well in the last 20 years or so, presumably because you were cautious and careful as shown by your supervision of your property construction, does not mean that someone coming here now and building a house will have the same fortunes, far from it in my opinion.

My circumstances were a little different to most, my main reason for moving to Thailand was I needed to escape the UK taxman, I used Thailand as a base starting 30+ years ago. When I bought my first house I set it up using a company name, a definite no,no according to many on TVF, it worked for me, listening to others is not always wise. Would I buy now as a retiree, don't know ???? Some of the other country options being touted for retirees I would not consider, like the PI, lived there for three years, if you think Thailand is bad the PI is worse but in a western setting with guns & gratuitous violence!

Property? buyer beware! your not in the West, you have to take the time and trouble to thoroughly research, then make sure you have a contract to CYA! Took me three houses to get it right, lucky I was able to sell the others easily enough, location always sells. 

The "politics" here have certainly evolved, for sure no government minister would go on TV 20 or 30 years ago and spout of about Farang, but back then they had less than 5 million visitors a year & governments were just "temporary". Thaksin was the first PM to serve a full term in Thailand - Ever! all the previous governments were thrown out for either corruption or 'Big Yellow" instigated coup!

As you rightly state, times have changed! from where I am sitting not for the better.

[rwill]

The Condo oversupply problem started way earlier than the corona virus hysteria.  And yet they continue to keep building more of them.

[fruitman]

4 minutes ago, rwill said:

The Condo oversupply problem started way earlier than the corona virus hysteria.  And yet they continue to keep building more of them.

And if you look along the new bts lines in BKK they will build many many more condo's soon...the land is already bought..

[Howiehotspur]

I live on Pratumnak hill ( Pattaya ) in the past 3 years they’ve built 3 condo blocks , 2 opposite and 1 to the left .. 2 are finished completed months ago , 1 finished within the past 2-3 weeks .. all are completely empty as far as I can tell , certainly no lights on at night . Forecourts etc empty .. 

I don’t know how many rooms that accounts for but I’d wager well over 200 at least ..Annoying because I had a lovely view previously , which no doubt has reduced a sale price if I ever considered selling which would be pointless anyway . 

[GalaxyMan]

8 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

you can't apply western sensibilities to Thai real estate. 

You can't apply Western sensibilities to Thai anything! ????

[SteveK]

15 minutes ago, rwill said:

And yet they continue to keep building more of them.

If they're not selling, then it must be because there aren't enough to attract customers. Same as a market stall with 2 bananas on it - nobody will want to buy. Put 200 bananas on the table and you'll have loads of customers. Thai logic 101.

 

Might seem crazy to you but "you not Thai, you no understand Thailand".

Edited February 24, 2020 by SteveK

[ExpatOilWorker]

2 hours ago, Kinnock said:

Just wait 'till One Bangkok opens, then we'll see what excess condos and office space really looks like.

 

My prediction is that One Bangkok will become a symbol of excess supply over demand.

 

Just in case you wonder what One Bangkok is, here is the foundation:

 

 

[fruitman]

18 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Just in case you wonder what One Bangkok is, here is the foundation:

 

But what is it? I checked their website yesterday but still have no idea what it all is.

[Howiehotspur]

19 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Just in case you wonder what One Bangkok is, here is the foundation:

 

 

Wow .. what Bangkok one ?   Condos? 

[allstarplayer090]

8 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

you can't apply western sensibilities to Thai real estate. 

Supply and demand work in every country. Demand is going down, supply continues to increase. Prices will fall.

[BestB]

2 minutes ago, allstarplayer090 said:

Supply and demand work in every country. Demand is going down, supply continues to increase. Prices will fall.

Not in Thailand . They will sit on it until they get the price they want or it rots 

[SteveK]

8 minutes ago, allstarplayer090 said:

Supply and demand work in every country. Demand is going down, supply continues to increase. Prices will fall.

How long have you been in Thailand for?  

Edited February 24, 2020 by SteveK

[essox essox]

5 hours ago, MaxLee said:

Scrap the TM 30, problem half ways solved

thought they had already done so????? There is a write up about it on TV

[Brooklyn Charlie]

9 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

you can't apply western sensibilities to Thai real estate. 

Thank you!  It's nice to know I'm not the only one that sees this.  There is something other than supply and demand combined with Western finance constructs that underpins the Thai property market. I sure don't know exactly what it is, but you are totally correct sir.

[impulse]

21 minutes ago, BestB said:

Not in Thailand . They will sit on it until they get the price they want or it rots 

 

Maybe not, now that there's a real estate tax.  With a 2020 tax rate of 0.02% for condos, I don't see that being a big factor.  But that's 2020 rates, and it can go up to 1.2% for condos not owner occupied.  That's 12,000 baht on a 1 million baht condo.  That's incentive to get reasonable on the sales price.

 

What's even more interesting is that undeveloped land can go up to 3% a year, increasing each year that it sits idle.  That could have a huge effect on the real estate market.  Also interesting is the exemption for properties occupied by the owner.  Looks like it's aimed at speculators and deliberately set up to encourage development instead of hoarding land.

 

A tax exempt threshold of Baht 10 million shall apply to buildings owned by individuals, where they are not the land owner, that are used as their place of residence, if their names appear in the house registration book on 1 January of the tax year. By definition this would include a condominium unit.

 

I wonder how many absentee foreigner owners are going to get caught out for a tiny little tax bill simply because they don't even know they owe one.  Like a 1,000 baht bill on a 5 million baht condo.  (at the 2020 rate of 0.02%)  Will there be a tax lien, or possibly even a tax foreclosure?  Gonna be interesting times.

 

https://www.bdo.co.th/en-gb/insights/tax-updates/new-property-tax-law-in-thailand

 

[Jingjock]

5 hours ago, Gracas said:

I'm just waiting for the 2 for 1 sale.

You mean buy one get one free Hahaha

[AgMech Cowboy]

10 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

you can't apply western sensibilities to Thai real estate. 

You nailed it about that.

[Henryford]

I always assumed that many of the condos were financed with dirty money and laundering it into a building was a good way to clean it. Doesn't matter if it sells or not.

[ExpatOilWorker]

1 hour ago, Howiehotspur said:

Wow .. what Bangkok one ?   Condos? 

Mixed used project.

 

[Jaggg88]

6 hours ago, Gracas said:

I'm just waiting for the 2 for 1 sale.

In the trade that is called BOGOF buy one get one free ????

[Airalee]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

What's even more interesting is that undeveloped land can go up to 3% a year, increasing each year that it sits idle.  That could have a huge effect on the real estate market. 

I have a feeling that we will see lots of these popping up on undeveloped lots in the future.

 

 

[Kinnock]

1 hour ago, fruitman said:

But what is it? I checked their website yesterday but still have no idea what it all is.

Mixed development of high rise offices, condos, retail - will look like Dubai in Bangkok.  All leasehold.  Currently one of the largest contruction projects in Asia.  

[Evolare]

it's more than that to be honest...I know several building with 20-30% occupancy and many units are not even lived in full time...its crazy. So much investment realestate and some buildings are not even sold out 5-10 year after being finished. 

 

and now with the economy going down...maybe its time for Tom Yam Goong Crisis 2 

[NorthernRyland]

2 hours ago, BestB said:

Not in Thailand . They will sit on it until they get the price they want or it rots

I've been watching the paint peel and black mold forming on a brand new building for 3 years here in Chiang Mai. They will not lower the price. 

 

These are the same people that will not under any circumstance embrace safe driving habits but insist on blessing cars and wearing magic amulets. I refuse to believe anymore I'm dealing with rational actors.