How are things where you are in Thailand

[lovelomsak]

I am confused on how things are really going here in Thailand. The govt paints a rosy picture. Thai visa members are saying things are going down the tubes. 

  People are saying they need more money, The government is not doing enough.

  But here where I live when I go out all I see is prosperity. New house are being built every  where. New cars and trucks are blocking the roads. New really modern restaurants ,cafes and coffee shops being built.Townhouses,hotels,apartments being built every where. New motorcycles every where.

  Maybe places like Pattaya are suffering, but out here in the rural area where I live it is boom town.. Perhaps Thailand is changing. All the expats who never ventured away from tourist areas see only what happens there. Maybe tourist areas are going through hard times but the rural area where I am is  developing quickly .A lot of money around.

  So how is it in other areas? Is it boom or doom?

  As a final note I thought the junta was running the country into the ground but when I go out and see what I see I begin to doubt myself. The locals are living better than I have ever seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2018 by lovelomsak

[beachproperty]

Sooooo.....Where do you live?

[NanLaew]

The provincial capital I live in and major towns I pass through also appear to be doing really well but I haven't checked on all the lesser moobahns in all the other provinces. If the yardstick of economic prowess is the amount of new but empty commercial shop houses versus the amount of vacant, old commercial shop houses, increasing rents and diminishing restaurants, then I may have buy a new yardstick.

 

 

[simoh1490]

1 minute ago, beachproperty said:

Sooooo.....Where do you live?

There's a clue in his posting name.

 

But to answer the OP's question: I live in a semi-rural area 25 kms out of Chiang Mai and everything I see around me, and everything I hear from the family in Central Thailand (also rural), suggests things are working well and people are making money. I think there's a tendency for people with agenda's to make bad press out of the current regime hence first-hand experience and evidence is important.

[chrisinth]

Like the OP, I also see more and more 'middle class/upper class' expansion here in Phitsanulok. There has always been money here but when I see moobahns springing up with starting prices of 8 million baht it does make you wonder.

 

To be fair though, it has been a never ending expansion programme here for the last 18 years and not just since the junta have been in power.

[jvs]

There is also the little fact that Thai households are more in debt than ever before.

I see the building all around also but many new buildings are still empty after a year or more.

Is it a bubble?Time will tell.

[steven100]

1 hour ago, lovelomsak said:

As a final note I thought the junta was running the country into the ground but when I go out and see what I see I begin to doubt myself. The locals are living better than I have ever seen.

correct .....  the thai Visa farang nayers will try to have you believe that all is doom and gloom ... but in fact it's the opposite with Thailand exports up and GDP up also.

Many projects that were on the back burner for years under previous governments have now been fast tracked and are well into construction especially in the north.

I see new developments opening up in most cities when I travel from the north to Bangkok.  Thailand has had a great 2017 and this year looks even more robust.

Edited January 3, 2018 by steven100

[bert bloggs]

Your all right , there is more building going on ,Thais do have more and more , exports are up , but the worrying thing is ,so is personal debt , where it will all end ,no one knows .

[peperobi]

4 hours ago, beachproperty said:

Sooooo.....Where do you live?

Yes...I like to know it too...

[peperobi]

As long the banks borrow expensive money to the peoples...The end will be very bitter...

[peterb17]

44 minutes ago, peperobi said:

Yes...I like to know it too...

Hull 

[1FinickyOne]

The highways going north to CM have all been redone, my small moo bahn, given a time frame of 15 years has really come up in the world - before nobody had a tractor and few vehicles, now near everyone has a tractor and many pick-ups and cars... in our local small city, some small business owners are slow and sometimes the mall is also - - but over all, I would say though not quite boom, things are quite well... 

[TKDfella]

5 hours ago, bert bloggs said:

Your all right , there is more building going on ,Thais do have more and more , exports are up , but the worrying thing is ,so is personal debt , where it will all end ,no one knows .

This is true. I note in my area the number of second hand car dealers has increased too. I was told that much of the increase was due to credit debts but whether that is true or not, I don't know.

[connda]

What you are seeing is the result of massive debt.  Ever see all the unbuilt buildings and infrastructure after 1997?  The next popped debt bubble is going to make that look like a walk in the park.  Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow...............

[Brunolem]

24 minutes ago, connda said:

What you are seeing is the result of massive debt.  Ever see all the unbuilt buildings and infrastructure after 1997?  The next popped debt bubble is going to make that look like a walk in the park.  

Yes, there is debt...mountains of it!

Do you think that all these cars, even motorbikes, are paid cash?

It's all debt!

The small farmers have never had it so bad, hence the government "loan campaigns" launched one after the other.

The sudden removal of the rice subsidies sent 32 million people into poverty.

And, like everywhere else, the 1% phenomenum is in full swing,

The amount of wealth amassed in some places in Bangkok is mindboggling!

Where else do you have shopping centers selling Mc Larens, Lamborghinis and Rolls Royces?

 

So these maybe half a million to one million persons, swimming in dough, are the trees that mask the...desert!

They own the best properties in Bangkok, but also in Phuket for the week-end, in their province for the family.

They own the land all over the country, that serfs are working for them.

They own the big businesses...everything...

And the rest of the population, or at least most of it, own the debts!

One could think we are talking about America!

[GreasyFingers]

2 hours ago, peperobi said:

Yes...I like to know it too...

If you cannot get out of the city try buying a map of rural Thailand or use Google Earth to see what is out there.

[lovelomsak]

It appears the consensus is things are getting better for the average thai.

  How or why it is happening is only speculation. But  from what I read here the middle class is making great steps forward in most areas. Some will question the sustainablity but that happens every where in the world and has for years. 

   I remember many dooms day people in Thailand  20 years ago saying that the cost of housing could not be sustained and things had to go down.Then you could buy a 2 bedroom 2 bath for 400,000 baht. They were wrong huh.

  Thai,s appear to be doing quite well. It is the white ghetto,s that are suffering. It goes with the Good guys in Bad guys out ..

  As we all know debt cannot be created without a source of income.Banks do not lend to unemployed people at least not in the country I come from.

  If I was a Thai the only thing I would want now is freedom of speech.

  Thank you to all who replied you have helped me better see how Thailand is probably better off with the junta.

  

[Odysseus123]

8 minutes ago, lovelomsak said:

It appears the consensus is things are getting better for the average thai.

  How or why it is happening is only speculation. But  from what I read here the middle class is making great steps forward in most areas. Some will question the sustainablity but that happens every where in the world and has for years. 

   I remember many dooms day people in Thailand  20 years ago saying that the cost of housing could not be sustained and things had to go down.Then you could buy a 2 bedroom 2 bath for 400,000 baht. They were wrong huh.

  Thai,s appear to be doing quite well. It is the white ghetto,s that are suffering. It goes with the Good guys in Bad guys out ..

  As we all know debt cannot be created without a source of income.Banks do not lend to unemployed people at least not in the country I come from.

  If I was a Thai the only thing I would want now is freedom of speech.

  Thank you to all who replied you have helped me better see how Thailand is probably better off with the junta.

  

Doesn't seem like a consensus to me.

 

( I know...I know...the thousands of responses on this thread probably indicates that it IS more reliable than the usual Thai opinion poll.....)

 

 

Edited January 3, 2018 by Odysseus123
clarity

[transam]

Folk can borrow cash easy here but can't pay it back...Folk don't think things through...

 

I personally have just got rid of a two day hangover....

[simoh1490]

3 hours ago, peperobi said:

Yes...I like to know it too...

The OP's nick is lovelomsak, lomsak is a district in Thailand, near Petchabuhn.

[ncc1701d]

My tgf’s shop is about half way between airport and Pattaya. Light to medium industrial zone. The whole area has an over supply of those 3-4 story townhouse style rows of shops. It’s quite ridiculous how many of those things get built and is such an eyesore. They are also hardly rented out. I would say 70% are empty. Her business itself is doing ok, but she and her family work hard at it. 

 

They are are not happy with the current leadership of the country.

[The Fat Controller]

Up in Ubon, where my wife has two buildings with rooms for rent, I have been quite shocked that a lot of hard working people who stay with us are really struggling with their debt.

The demographic that seems to be in trouble are in reasonable positions, teachers and nurses, who have borrowed up to their limit.

Also, as in another thread running, quite a few restaurants pop up and last a couple of months then close again.

We have not had a full default on rent yet, but quite a few requests for part payment due to cashflow issues such as urgent car or bike repairs.

We are lucky in that we did not have to borrow to build our recently completed second building, I am not sure we could have covered the interest with even a loan of 50%

[Stevemercer]

I've lived for 4 years now on the outskirts of a rural town in Mahasarakham Province (Isan).

 

The price of day to day goods and services has remained over that 4 years (which is good). For example, a can of coke that cost 14 Baht at a 7/11 is still 14 Baht.

 

Wages have gone up somewhat. 4 year ago, 300 Baht per day was standard for unskilled and semi-skilled labour. Semi-skilled labour is probably closer to 500 Baht now, although unskilled is still around 300 Baht.

 

The price of rural land hasn't changed much, but people's expectations seem to be through the roof. It's hard to get through to the average Thai that the value of land is only what people are willing to pay.

 

There seems to be greater consumer prosperity, at least on the surface. Get off the highways and people are doing it pretty tough (even though by the smiles on their faces you would never know it).

 

From my perspective, the main financial down has been the continued strength of the Baht against the Australian dollar. 

[lovelomsak]

2 hours ago, TKDfella said:

This is true. I note in my area the number of second hand car dealers has increased too. I was told that much of the increase was due to credit debts but whether that is true or not, I don't know.

I think most of the used cars and trucks are trade,s on new vehicle's.

  Most new  dealers do.not bother selling used just wholesale out to private used dealer's.

  That said Toyota a[[ears to try with used . I believe their sale lots are called Sure but they are the only ones I know of doing this.

[lovelomsak]

1 hour ago, ncc1701d said:

My tgf’s shop is about half way between airport and Pattaya. Light to medium industrial zone. The whole area has an over supply of those 3-4 story townhouse style rows of shops. It’s quite ridiculous how many of those things get built and is such an eyesore. They are also hardly rented out. I would say 70% are empty. Her business itself is doing ok, but she and her family work hard at it. 

 

They are are not happy with the current leadership of the country.

Sometimes  people just want a place to park illegal gotten cash. So buildings are a great place to do it.It can rent or sell in the future but is not an issue.

  The chinese buy up high end Canadian property in Calgary tear it down and rebuild and never even come to see it. Just parking money.

[khunPer]

10 hours ago, lovelomsak said:

So how is it in other areas? Is it boom or doom?

Seem like similar boom where I live – i.e. more-and-more new cars and new big bikes, ongoing construction, more trendy shops and cafés, Thais that seem to have more money to spend than I noticed before – and that's a tourist area, with also slightly a growing number of Thai turists...

[Kwasaki]

11 hours ago, lovelomsak said:

I am confused on how things are really going here in Thailand.

I'm not and note I say personally probably being here in Thailand is the best thing or decision I ever made, don't understand peeps like you.

Sounds like it's not the place for you.

[rickudon]

Here in Udon it is mixed. There has been a boom in car ownership, and some employed people do seem to have money to spend. On the other hand, most ex-farm product prices are down on a couple of years ago - pork, eggs,  some fish and local fresh fruit and vegetables. Rice, raw palm-oil fruit and rubber all low. And up here very few farmers have tractors. Quite a bit of rice land is just fallow - with the price of labour, just a waste of time growing for sale. Farmers who are able to do so are turning to other jobs - they now have more money, but it strikes me as consumer led growth - nobody is making more products, just more shops, stalls, hotels and other services.

 

There is quite a bit of parking cash in buildings - and leaving them empty. Most actual building is being done by family members who have been working out of province, or by girls using money from foreign partners. Estate builders are having a hard time, second hand houses you cannot sell and older houses no one will even rent.

 

So a very mixed outlook. Cannot see this consumer led boom going much further, and farming is really in the doldrums, And their are no other real industries - no primary manufacturing, little mining. Just a few doing really well, because they already own nearly everything, a slowly growing but struggling middle class and the masses on 500 baht or often a lot less, who are going nowhere.

[speedtripler]

8 hours ago, TKDfella said:

This is true. I note in my area the number of second hand car dealers has increased too. I was told that much of the increase was due to credit debts but whether that is true or not, I don't know.

There is some very nice luxury car dealerships all around bkk selling the best cars from around the world... (rolls Royce, maserati, lamborghini, ferrari, Aston Martin and porsche all available at multiple locations around the city) 

 

They don't seem to going out of business, there maybe even more of them opening and its not unusual to see half a car park full of luxury German cars at any middle class or higher condonium 

 

Whether their all bought on credit I don't know.... 

 

I have read and do believe that the majority of households are probably deeper in  debt than they should be but you could probably say the same about most of the west too... 

[scoutman360]

This is no different than the U.S., and maybe everywhere? Expansion and growth is global. The things you mentioned, the ups and downs of different areas, are predictable. I was smart to buy in a growth area in the U.S, I suggest people to do the same in Thailand.