Pramote Channgam
More than 53 percent of condominiums built since 2008 remain unsold in
Pattaya and industry and government officials have acknowledged that the market
has stalled and prices are now falling.
Sopon
Pornchokchai, board president for the Agency for Real Estate Affairs’ Research
and Information Center.
At a May 29 real estate seminar titled “Real Estate Investment Opportunities in
Chonburi-Rayong”, Chonburi Gov. Senee Jittakasem said plunging exports and
tourist numbers have knocked the property market into the doldrums and,
especially in the Pattaya area, have sent prices tumbling.
Sopon Pornchokchai, board president for the Agency for Real Estate Affairs’
Research and Information Center, said 42 new “weekend condominium” projects were
started during 2008-2009 with 4,443 units put on the market. As of January, 53
percent, or 2,355 condos, remained unsold.
In all of Chonburi and Rayong, Sopon said, 426 projects with 55,426 units were
built but 63 percent – 35,390 units – remained unsold.
Sopon echoed the governor’s comments that fallout from the world economic crisis
was punishing the Eastern Seaboard’s real estate market. A steep drop in the
number of Thai exports has seen Laem Chabang Port-area factories close and
workers laid-off, reducing demand and prices for real estate. About 40 percent
of 6,899 units built in the Si Racha-Laem Chabang industrial Zone area last year
had been sold by January.
At the same time, Sopon added, the sharp drop in tourism to Pattaya has hit the
real estate sector hard in the seaside city.
“To solve this (real estate) problem, we must understand the economic problem,”
said Jate Sopitpongsathorn, managing director for developer Horseshoe Point Co.
Ltd., at the seminar. “It’s affecting the entire world and we must cooperate to
find a solution in order for all businesses to survive.”
Jate said Horseshoe Point’s housing estate has suffered a 50 percent drop in
sales and that people are in general spending much less.
“The number of project visitors has not decreased much, but the number of
customers making purchases has,” Jate said.
