Who Has Bought or Sold Their Own Property In The Last Few Months?

[quiksilva]

.... oversupply of properties, means the agents (usually) select and collect in their portfolio what they believe they can sell.

Nail on the head.

[eljeque]

Who Has Bought or Sold Their Own Property In The Last Few Months?, either via agents or by yourself?

This topic should now be changed to ....

Who Has Bought or Sold Their Own Property In The Last Two Years?, either via agents or by yourself?

[mommysboy]

I have my house for sale. Been 'available' for a month or so now.

New Build. 86 m2 @ 3.5m THB. Close to RPM in Phuket.

I emailed 10 'big' agents but only 2 kindly replied. The other really professional agents just ignored it.

Maybe just their ignorance at the lower commission fee OR it could be that everything has slowed right down...

Anyway, still looking to sell

Sean

>edit - spelling

Do you think the lack of interest is telling you something about the price?

In the UK, some estate agents are recommending dropping another 20% for quick sales. It's a bad position, but if you don't drop the price maybe you'll have to lose 30% or more....

If it's any consolation we're nearly all on a loser in a recession.

[tangoll]

thought I would resurrect this thread.

Siri@Sukhumvit, floor 17 of 34 floors, 1 bed / 1 bath, 50.6 sqm, bought on resale 5.1 mil in Sept 08, orig launch price 5.3 mil, first buyer paid 4.9 mil, just sold for 5.7 mil baht to local Thai buyer. This project will complete around 1Q 2010, and is now very active for resales. Sansiri is most popular developer amongst local Thais because their projects tend to appreciate well. Location is first rate, Sukhumvit soi 38, 200 metres from BTS Thonglor.

Lots of buying interest now in well located projects, nearing completion.

Anyone else bought or sold their property in Bangkok recently?

[trogers]

I have my house for sale. Been 'available' for a month or so now.

New Build. 86 m2 @ 3.5m THB. Close to RPM in Phuket.

I emailed 10 'big' agents but only 2 kindly replied. The other really professional agents just ignored it.

Maybe just their ignorance at the lower commission fee OR it could be that everything has slowed right down...

Anyway, still looking to sell

Sean

>edit - spelling

Do you think the lack of interest is telling you something about the price?

In the UK, some estate agents are recommending dropping another 20% for quick sales. It's a bad position, but if you don't drop the price maybe you'll have to lose 30% or more....

If it's any consolation we're nearly all on a loser in a recession.

A few years ago, there were lots of property traders in the UK driving up prices by the week in public auctions. Where are they now?

[pkrv]

thought I would resurrect this thread.

Siri@Sukhumvit, floor 17 of 34 floors, 1 bed / 1 bath, 50.6 sqm, bought on resale 5.1 mil in Sept 08, orig launch price 5.3 mil, first buyer paid 4.9 mil, just sold for 5.7 mil baht to local Thai buyer. This project will complete around 1Q 2010, and is now very active for resales. Sansiri is most popular developer amongst local Thais because their projects tend to appreciate well. Location is first rate, Sukhumvit soi 38, 200 metres from BTS Thonglor.

Lots of buying interest now in well located projects, nearing completion.

Anyone else bought or sold their property in Bangkok recently?

I noticed both your and quiksilva's responses. Interesting the condo I bought into, The Park, now handles its own sales and rentals. I sort of looked at this and thought a good strategy - must remember to request juristic to charge the sales office rent ];-)

sales here:

http://www.theparkresidence.co.th/property...it_for_Sale.pdf

Rental here:

http://www.theparkresidence.co.th/property...it_for_Rent.pdf

We are over in two weeks (we can't wait) will let you know on The Address, it should be fully completed, and there is a banking thread I have to get back to, as IMO we are all in this together.

Edited August 7, 2009 by pkrv

[VespaSeeker]

I have bought and sold 5 condos in Pattaya in the last 18 months , all under the 1.5 m mark , 3 were refurb project and returned a decent profit as well ass making money on transferring money back to UK , ( 4 were bought at 71bt to English pound, and money transferred out at 49 bt & 50bt to english pound )

I kept the money from one unit and bought another for 700,000bt , lick of paint and some SB Furniture , sold in 3 months ( last week ) for 975.000bt .

I have now invested in a new project in BKK on Suckumvit ( hope to re-sell before building completes ) and i have bought another cheap studio in Pattaya which i will start work on the refurb next week and will be for sale by the end of this month .

As far as my experience goes people are still looking for cheap condos and if you make some effort on the refurb ( not crap furniture from 2nd hand shop and then expect to make 300/400,000 bt profit ) they are pretty easy to sell , or maybe i have just been very lucky 5 times !!!

[merlion]

I have bought and sold 5 condos in Pattaya in the last 18 months , all under the 1.5 m mark , 3 were refurb project and returned a decent profit as well ass making money on transferring money back to UK , ( 4 were bought at 71bt to English pound, and money transferred out at 49 bt & 50bt to english pound )

I kept the money from one unit and bought another for 700,000bt , lick of paint and some SB Furniture , sold in 3 months ( last week ) for 975.000bt .

I have now invested in a new project in BKK on Suckumvit ( hope to re-sell before building completes ) and i have bought another cheap studio in Pattaya which i will start work on the refurb next week and will be for sale by the end of this month .

As far as my experience goes people are still looking for cheap condos and if you make some effort on the refurb ( not crap furniture from 2nd hand shop and then expect to make 300/400,000 bt profit ) they are pretty easy to sell , or maybe i have just been very lucky 5 times !!!

Self praise is no praise.

Edited August 8, 2009 by merlion

[tangoll]

merlion, I think we should give some slack to vespaseeker on his post. Afterall, if that's what he has done in the past few months, all the more power to him, in this difficult period. However, from what I can see of what's actually happening in Bangkok condo market for well located properties, it's getting active for sales and resales. Also encouraging is that I am seeing and getting enquiries from young 30's Thai's who say they are looking to build up their asset base, to secure a steady rental stream 5 - 10 years down the road. Compared to 30 year olds in say HK, these guys are looking only to next week as to which bar or club to go to, or if in financial area, the next quick killing. Agents are also asking around to fill up their "stock" of listings of properties for rent and sales.

Quattro on Thonglor soi 4 has only 10 1 bed units left for sale, all being in the less desirable blocked view floors/lines. The company agent says a lot of Bumrungrad doctors are buying into this project, and one doctor has bought eight units, signifying what I'm not sure, except that doctors here, like elsewhere, are probably overpaid. A Thai friend from Korat who bought a unit here after I mentioned about the project to her, says she is now so happy to have reserved a unit here as well. Price from developer was about 130,000 baht per sqm for 13th - 20th floor.

The speculators are waiting for launch of AP's soi 28 project which word has it that starting price will be 160,000 baht per sqm. Just a word of caution here for anyone thinking to buy into an AP project. Do a careful due diligence that AP has all the government approvals necessary to do the project. True for all development projects, but rumours abound that AP has some difficulty with some of their recent projects.

[tangoll]

Actually, in thinking about my comment regarding giving more slack to vespaseeker, I wish there were 100's more like him, each operating in their own defined niche of the market. It's people like vs who provide activity and vitality to the property market. A lot sight better having them than those others who post here asking us to count the number of dark windows in apartment buildings, or who wish we would lose our shirts from the market falling out, or who are guessing at the number of unsold units, etc. At least, vs is doing something; the others are just pontificating.

I'm looking to sell another one of my units, then buy back into the market.

[FD333]

tangoll,

A lot sight better having them than those others who post here asking us to count the number of dark windows in apartment buildings, or who wish we would lose our shirts from the market falling out, or who are guessing at the number of unsold units, etc. At least, vs is doing something; the others are just pontificating.

Thats an odd comment because I am not sure that a single poster on this thread has asked anyone to 'count the dark windows' or 'guess the number of unsold units'. You 'realty' guys are so busy defending the market you all get confused as to which site you are on.

But seeing as you raised the issue anyone notice the amount of darkened windows at night in 'successful projects' like, The Athenee Residences, The Park Chidlom, The Madison etc etc???

Now I know they all had successful sales within the previously buoyant market but you now have to wonder at the individual investors and their expected ROI. If the buyers aren't in residence, and they were purchased as rental units, why are they so empty? Could it be that the over saturation of serviced apartments in the BKK has had the bottom fall out of the rental market? This would be on top of a stalled sales market.

It's bad enough at any time to figure what on earth is going on with the BKK property market ( figures remaining artificially high -no real correction to reflect a global downturn- banks don't call in the bad loans?)and all people really want to hear on the boards is some honest advice/answers. Posters jumping on here with an irrational exuberance are simply off-putting. I have made money on properties in Thailand, but personally I would advocate any newcomer to exercise some real caution with the market at the moment.

This is an odd thread as it spans two years and had an number of people talking up a storm in the initial phases....

It would be interesting to 're-start' a new thread and try to extract some really honest replies as to what has been going on in BKK, Phuket, Pattaya etc through mid-year 2009. As far as I am aware, this amounts to virtually nothing, with the trasfer of some properties such as the Met being the exception. These of course are not new sales, but transfers.

[stgrhe]

My wife and I bought in Hua Hin three months ago.

[tangoll]

FD333, I'm not sure what your point is, but here's one thread/comment by pedro01 about dark windows:

<http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Bangkok-Condo-Prices-Surging-t200985.html&st=25>

Satisfied, or do you want me to find other such comments to back up my odd comment?

[CDNinKS]

I (my gf) bought land in Hua Hin last month.......

[FD333]

Tangoll,

I think my quote was this thread. You are referencing an entirely different thread. We seem to keep having petty sword crossing, a TV disease.

The point I make which you say that you are not sure about is the fact that the BKK property market is incredibly difficult to read. The specific point regarding the condominiums I mentioned was this

#1 I know Athenee Residences, The Park Chidlom, The Madison etc all made very good sales (and have minimal inventory left)

#2 There has been ample time for owner fit out since transfer and evidently this has been extremely slow, or in many cases does not appear to be happening.

#3 At night, these buildings have a minority of their units lit (and any Bangkok based poster can verify as it is out in open view every night for all to see)

#4 Such owners are neither occupying or renting

This baffles me as the ROI is non-existent. My personal take - some investors (Thai and East Asian perhaps) do not care, they have simply parked some funds there and are not under the regular investment pressures. Other investors did not think - got caught in a property market first rising but now stagnating and like a deer in the headlights, they do not know what to do.

One chilling factor regarding the BKK market stagnating is barely if ever discussed. Over-saturation of the rental market. Smarter investors were watching serviced apartments get built and launched over a staggering rate over the last few years. On upper Sukhumvit soi 24 hundreds of new apartments are available (and I am not sure whether the new -and butt ugly- Marriot serviced apartment is open yet) Needless to say in the direct vicinity you have new condominiums such as Ideal 24 and Emporio Place on line/coming on line so that will mean that on Soi 24 alone there will be several thousand apartments in total for potential rental. Who on earth is going to rent them all? Well, they are not going to be rented and the serviced apartment industry has been open about occupancy levels dropping and that the market is overbuilt.

I own property in Thailand and have bought and sold. I have made money doing so but never try to talk the market up because I think you have to be particularly astute and tuned into what is going on or you can end up with a bad investment very easily.

[trogers]

One chilling factor regarding the BKK market stagnating is barely if ever discussed. Over-saturation of the rental market. Smarter investors were watching serviced apartments get built and launched over a staggering rate over the last few years. On upper Sukhumvit soi 24 hundreds of new apartments are available (and I am not sure whether the new -and butt ugly- Marriot serviced apartment is open yet) Needless to say in the direct vicinity you have new condominiums such as Ideal 24 and Emporio Place on line/coming on line so that will mean that on Soi 24 alone there will be several thousand apartments in total for potential rental. Who on earth is going to rent them all? Well, they are not going to be rented and the serviced apartment industry has been open about occupancy levels dropping and that the market is overbuilt.

I own property in Thailand and have bought and sold. I have made money doing so but never try to talk the market up because I think you have to be particularly astute and tuned into what is going on or you can end up with a bad investment very easily.

I have yet to see service apartments serving a family needing 3-bedroom below Bt100k a month in lower Sukhumvit.

[tangoll]

FD333, it's a total waste of time and energy engaging in a verbal duel on this forum. Maybe some posters just get their kicks in wanting to have someone anonymous say, "Hey, you're right, what a brilliant piece of analysis or argument you've presented, you really know the situation here, etc etc." I'm just not into any of that.

Since you've said you've bought and sold property here in Thailand, why don't you, as in the purpose of this thread, just give the pertinent facts of your purchases and sales within the last few months, and then let each reader make what they will of your posting. I've done that several times here and I hope the readers appreciate some of the postings I've made. I recall donx thanking me for what I presented, as being indicative of what's really happening. I mean, people actually doing something, as opposed to just talking about it. I'm not trying to talk the market up -- doing that defeats my objective as well.

[wordchild]

I live in the Athenee ,since July,as a renter not a buyer.there have been problems for some of the buyers on transfer i am told but the place is slowly filling up and now about 30% occupancy. there are plenty of apartments to rent or buy so some good deals to be had particularly for renting.i had considered buying earlier in the project and am now very glad i didnt.I am aware of a couple of recent sales in the building one for a little over 120psm and one on a lower floor of the same type for just under 120 psm. both these units were around 195 sm and in both cases acieved prices were a fair way below the sellers original asking. I got this information from the person in charge of transfers so pretty sure its kosher. I have some issues with the design of the apartments particularly the undersized bedrooms but overall given the quality of the building and the location and the fact it is freehold and completed this sort of price psm must be close to the top for Bangkok condos at the moment.

Edited August 23, 2009 by wordchild

[robert10]

i had considered buying earlier in the project and am now very glad i didnt.

Why is that?

[wordchild]

i had considered buying earlier in the project and am now very glad i didnt.

Why is that?

because i got a better deal now renting it, and also while i love the location ,much better than say the Park which I also looked at, the apartment design is poor. in a nutshell the bedroom sizes ,even incl the master, are too small.

.

[dsfbrit]

I have just relisted my house in Pattaya for rent or sale and so far am pleased at the activity. The developer of my village has said that the rental market is picking up this last month and it appears to be so.

He has 3 beautiful villas for sale or rent and I wish I had the money I would grab another one. I actually prefer to rent over selling since my ROI is about 8% (US tax free) and I don't know where I could get that elsewhare.

If I had some extra cash I would put it in Thailand. I think the returns are better and the future is brighter compared to the US.

Of course there is risk, but I think the trends are good.

Did the activity turn into anything real or was the developer over optimistic???

[ya5702]

I am a Chinese-farang. I own a vacation condo in a Grade A building in downtown Bangkok which I use for three months in a year. It is kept vacant (lights out) for the rest of the year.

I have met a few of the local Thai owners in my building.

Strange as it may seem, a lot of the Grade A condos are bought by Thais (actually Chinese-Thais) who have no immediate use of them. They just buy them and hold...for their children/grandhchildren's when they enter Chulalongkorn University, or for their weekday commute to their workplaces in downtown Bangkok. So, it is lights out during the weekends.

To these locals, capital appreciation from real estate is (almost) a sure thing. Their vision is long-term.

Besides, is there a better option for parking one's money especially in today's economic climate?

[trogers]

I am a Chinese-farang. I own a vacation condo in a Grade A building in downtown Bangkok which I use for three months in a year. It is kept vacant (lights out) for the rest of the year.

I have met a few of the local Thai owners in my building.

Strange as it may seem, a lot of the Grade A condos are bought by Thais (actually Chinese-Thais) who have no immediate use of them. They just buy them and hold...for their children/grandhchildren's when they enter Chulalongkorn University, or for their weekday commute to their workplaces in downtown Bangkok. So, it is lights out during the weekends.

To these locals, capital appreciation from real estate is (almost) a sure thing. Their vision is long-term.

Besides, is there a better option for parking one's money especially in today's economic climate?

These locals may be startled should they add the high monthly common fees to the already high prices of the condo units. We will be able to see the trend of non-payment of common fees in these projects soon.

[kdbkk]

I am a Chinese-farang. I own a vacation condo in a Grade A building in downtown Bangkok which I use for three months in a year. It is kept vacant (lights out) for the rest of the year.

I have met a few of the local Thai owners in my building.

Strange as it may seem, a lot of the Grade A condos are bought by Thais (actually Chinese-Thais) who have no immediate use of them. They just buy them and hold...for their children/grandhchildren's when they enter Chulalongkorn University, or for their weekday commute to their workplaces in downtown Bangkok. So, it is lights out during the weekends.

To these locals, capital appreciation from real estate is (almost) a sure thing. Their vision is long-term.

Besides, is there a better option for parking one's money especially in today's economic climate?

These locals may be startled should they add the high monthly common fees to the already high prices of the condo units. We will be able to see the trend of non-payment of common fees in these projects soon.

For those high-end condo owners, a lot of them don't look at it as investment per se. It's more of a life-style. They are willing to pay the common fee anyway even if they hardly use it. I too only use my condo at Ploenchit a few times a month. It's just one kind of assets to have.

[trogers]

I am a Chinese-farang. I own a vacation condo in a Grade A building in downtown Bangkok which I use for three months in a year. It is kept vacant (lights out) for the rest of the year.

I have met a few of the local Thai owners in my building.

Strange as it may seem, a lot of the Grade A condos are bought by Thais (actually Chinese-Thais) who have no immediate use of them. They just buy them and hold...for their children/grandhchildren's when they enter Chulalongkorn University, or for their weekday commute to their workplaces in downtown Bangkok. So, it is lights out during the weekends.

To these locals, capital appreciation from real estate is (almost) a sure thing. Their vision is long-term.

Besides, is there a better option for parking one's money especially in today's economic climate?

These locals may be startled should they add the high monthly common fees to the already high prices of the condo units. We will be able to see the trend of non-payment of common fees in these projects soon.

For those high-end condo owners, a lot of them don't look at it as investment per se. It's more of a life-style. They are willing to pay the common fee anyway even if they hardly use it. I too only use my condo at Ploenchit a few times a month. It's just one kind of assets to have.

I have seen too many expensive cars (Benz, BMW) parking and obstructing traffic because the car owners desire to save the Bt20 parking fee. They are willing to spend the many millions to buy the car, but stint on the small payments.

[thesunset75]

I bought rubber plantation in Surat Thani 3 years ago. 30 Rai with 4.5 Mil. 20 Km. west of the Airport.

My family sold the rice field 9 Rai 9 Mil. 5 km. from the airport on the new highway to Surat city..so that why they got good prices.

....

Any one interest in other piece of rice field ??? which 1 Mil / Rai in the same area.

[yabaaaa]

In the last two weeks a friend of mine has bought 4 condos value 9 million close to the bts line to add to the 40+ he already has.

[tangoll]

yabaaa, it would be a whole lot more informative if you would just give us the details of even one of your friend's purchases, details like which building and location, which floor, unit size, and price. The details on one transaction is better than the summary info you mentioned, which tells us basically nothing about what's really happening in the condo market in Bangkok.

[jcon]

I'll be selling soon, a house, a townhouse, and a condo.... thinking seriously about moving away from Thailand.....

House: Low - 8 figures THB (edit: I had 10 figure in there hahaha, that would be one hel_l of a house haha)

Townhouse Mid - 7 figures THB

Condo Lowest 7 figure THB

So I think I'll be able to feel out a few different markets for sure because of the wide price range. Oddly enough the one I want to keep the most is the cheapest, because I'm getting 10% yield on it.... if I could just swap yields with the higher-dollar property, I'd be happy....

I probably will keep the house to visit. So the actual markets I will be selling into are the lower end condo market and the middle end townhouse market. We'll see how that goes...... I will report if I make any sales.

I'd also like to know what is selling, to whom and by whom, etc. etc.... just for informative purposes to make my sales go easier without the nuisance of bargaining ugh.....

Edited August 27, 2009 by jcon

[stevehaigh]

Any one interest in other piece of rice field ??? which 1 Mil / Rai in the same area.

that some expensive rice. go north a bit and you can get rice paddy for 50-200k/rai