Waterfront land prices at Sirindhorn Dam, Ubon skyrocket over a decade

[Latis]

Prime waterfront properties are worth an average of 60% more than their inland counterparts, according to a European real estate agency’s waterfront Index. 

A waterfront property is defined as having a direct line of sight to water. Interest in waterfront properties is not abating. However, some waterside locations in Thailand have been overlooked by developers. That is until now. 

 

In the past five years there has been a healthy increase, year on year, in web searches for waterfront property. Keeping in view the property development fever that struck Thai beach resorts, such as Phuket and Pattaya, over the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in prices. 

 

On the downside, there’s been a correlating drop in natural water supply. As high-density residential and commercial developments at beach resorts put high demands on natural water resources, access to clean water invariably means fresh water has to be shipped in.

 

However, worldwide, demand for waterfront properties continues to grow. According to a real estate report, 60% of waterfront property buyers are in their 40s or younger. 

While the price of waterfront property in popular Thai resorts - Phuket and Samui - has risen healthily, the value of freshwater front properties at Sindhorn Dam’s water’s edge, in Ubon Ratchathani province, have sky rocketed in the past decade. 

 

In 2004, one rai of land (third of an acre, 0.16 hectares, 1600 sq.m or 17,233 sq.ft ) could be snapped up for THB 50,000 to THB 100,000. Today, thirteen years on, prime locations at Sirindhorn Dam are selling for up to THB 3 million per rai. That’s a whopping 6,000% increase. 

 

While it’s still possible to buy a four bedroom house in Ubon, inland, for under THB 1.5 million, waterfrontage is outperforming city and village real estate.

 

Mark Twain and the cowboy Hollywood star, Will Rogers, shared a sentiment. As Twain said, "Buy land, they're not making it anymore". And it appears, that with waterfront land, that advice especially resonates true today.

 

Research findings released earlier this year by Plus Property found that real-estate growth in three Thai provinces is closely linked to tourism growth. Last year, the group reported Pattaya’s slumping property market was showing signs of a turnaround with increased tourism being cited as the main reason for an upswing in interest in real estate.

With Ubon tipped for a major increase in tourism development over the next five years, we can expect property prices to continue to rise as the province catches up with much higher land prices elsewhere in Thailand. One real estate agent in the city is predicting another four digit increase in land prices at Sirindhorn Dam over the next five years.

 

Credit sources: Knight Frank Research, Plus Property. Kasikorn Bank and The Nation