Foreigners raring to buy condos in Thailand - Bangkok most popular in searches - but late 2022 for recovery

[Airalee]

30 minutes ago, xylophone said:

 

40 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

The market was already very over built, and there was already alot of stock and vacancy, prior to Covid. 

 

Perhaps the developers only engaged in GMR (Google market research)? 

You beat me to it sm007 as I was just about to post the same thing, because the property market had been dead here long before Covid took hold, and there were regular reports of thousands of unsold/uninhabited condos in Bangkok alone.

 

 

I too was going to say the same thing.  If the Chinese are supposedly going to come in and buy up all the empty condos, what was stopping them from doing it pre-Covid?   And no surprise, we have the influx of agents on this thread, full of bravado, claiming that anybody that speaks in any negative term about the state of the market is just a poor, bitter renter.

 

Full disclosure…I own a condo.

[spidermike007]

35 minutes ago, xylophone said:

You beat me to it sm007 as I was just about to post the same thing, because the property market had been dead here long before Covid took hold, and there were regular reports of thousands of unsold/uninhabited condos in Bangkok alone.

 

Nearer to home in Phuket, many of the property booths had disappeared and I knew a couple of the managers who said that times were extremely tough, hence getting rid of the booths and the staff.

 

Then of course there were friends of mine who were trying to sell condos and villas, and who had no luck, although one of my friends did, when he/they bought a penthouse condo overlooking the sea for 18 million baht a few years back and then just two years later wanted to sell it and couldn't, and were advised to drop the price, which they did, several times, and in the end because they were desperate to get rid of it, they settled for 11 million baht – – that's a huge loss in two years.

 

The other side of the coin is the fact that there are a lot of places on the market here where the asking price has stayed high, irrespective of the glut of places and the market conditions, notwithstanding Covid et al.

 

With rents so low and the Visa situation so tricky, why would anyone want to spend good money in a place like this?
 

On Samui, hundreds of villas were built on spec, by hungry investors. And they could not sell for years. The land sold, for the spec villas. But the villas ended up on the rental market, 

and they decimated the rental market too, as there were an incredible number, and the owners were desperate to get something out them. 

 

Now with Covid? A friend of mine recently moved to Pattaya. He looked at condos in Jomtien. He walked into one of the nicest towers, looked at a 36th floor unit with panoramic views, and when he was quoted 28,000 a month, he offered 10,000. They settled on 13,000. He said the agent more or less admitted the building was nearly empty, and they could not rent to sell anything, at this time.

 

Demand is way down. The Chinese market is nearly gone, Russians and others are very hesitant to commit. And the long term tourists are gone too. So, who does that leave? Wealthy Thais, many of whom see the market collapsing, and would rather wait and see how all of this shakes out, and ex-pats, many of whom are smart enough to be shopping for bargains right now. 

 

Anyone interested in buying a condo right now, would be better off waiting awhile. Timing is on your side. Time is now your ally. The economy is going remain devastated here, for a very long time to come. And the longer this goes on, the more people are going to be affected by it, and the more desperate some will become. For the wealthy it barely matters. But, there are many middle class who have money invested, and there are alot of Chinese and Russians who bought, and cannot even visit Thailand. Some of them will want to unload their properties. Wait. The condo market is severely overbuilt. And demand is low, for all but the top buildings. 
 

Edited August 10, 2021 by spidermike007

[Pracha Duang]

4 hours ago, brucegoniners said:

What a bunch of BS!

 

The property market is dead as a doornail in Thailand and will be long after the pandemic is over I'm afraid.

 

People have seen what something like this does to a market. You would have trouble giving a condo away right now.

It’s dead but you still need to be blazing fast to get any sort of deal in Phuket. The Chinese have started showing up recently with suitcases filled with cash to launder. I got outbid on some beach front land for 200 million baht. Chinese buyer came in at the last minute and offered 50 million baht over asking.

 

99% of the property in Phuket is laundered money, hence why no one is in a rush to sell or reduce prices. I’ve snagged some insane deals over the last year here but you need to move fast.

[Kwasaki]

5 hours ago, Denim said:

What a surprise.  

Exactly they want somewhere to go when the Wuhan lab accidentally lets out the next virus. ???? 

[johng]

Just now, Kwasaki said:

accidentally

"accidentally"  ????

[MrJ2U]

I want to buy a condo full of Chinese bickering and smoking in the hallways.

[BumGun]

5 hours ago, rupert the bear said:

there are many other better options,many countries you live a few yrs you have residency

Can you list them ?

[Brickbat]

And I see pigs flying too….Bangkok! 

[BumGun]

3 hours ago, aussienam said:

For a large percentage of condos in places like Pattaya, they are overpriced and a depreciating asset. 

Every time I used to go to Pattaya (with my Aussie gf, who loves the place more then I do) I used to think of buying a condo there ... Never did but instead invested it in a range of shares in the US and Australia and thought to use the income from those investments to rent in Thailand, an example I purchased some Moderna way back and that's gone insanely high, its ridiculous how much its grown.   OF course the difference being I don't live there, am not looking to launder money,  nor have any roots there but it would be nice to stay for months instead of weeks, and being able to have a place of your own has an appeal.  The Thai authorities just make it way to hard to stay there for me

Edited August 10, 2021 by BumGun

[MrJ2U]

45 minutes ago, BumGun said:

Can you list them ?

• Belize. ...
• Ecuador. ...
• Panama. ...
• Paraguay. ...
• Uruguay. ...
• South Africa. ...
• Dominican Republic

[MrJ2U]

Just now, MrJ2U said:

• Belize. ...
• Ecuador. ...
• Panama. ...
• Paraguay. ...
• Uruguay. ...
• South Africa. ...
• Dominican Republic

Belize is nice because they speak English.

[koolkarl]

Does the government supply free gas masks with purchase of  a condo?

[Mayhem11]

Raring just not now ie not raring.

[Xonax]

And it´s still not difficult to find a condo selling for the old 2019 "bargain" price ????. They still believe, that foreign buyers will soon be coming to save the real estate market.

[Skeptic7]

I bet they're all "raring" to buy that bridge too! ????

[Elkski]

I sure don't think it's a good time to buy a condo in Thailand but I'm always wrong on my timing

[xtof2]

6 hours ago, John Drake said:

Do Chinese in the PRC use google?

You're right. Google is banned in mainland China, they have Baidu....to look for condos in Thailand ????

[tingtong]

THB down approx 10% this year, combined that with some ppl looking to cash, and a slow current ( actual) property market, it definitely looks a better deal now than 1 yr ago was...

Now only if the buyers could travel and see before buying and sending their money to a Thai bank that now only guarantee 1M THB....

A buyer's dream!

 

 

[milesinnz]

Meanwhile in China.. for those who might not have been following the news..

One of the biggest Chinese property developers China Evergrande faces potential collapse as it buckles under a mountain of debt, and it could have serious consequences not only for Australia’s iron ore prices but the economy too, an expert has warned.

There are fears that should China Evergrande, the country’s second-biggest property developer, collapse, it would make raising debt more difficult for other property developers, which in turn would impact China’s construction industry and reduce the demand for iron ore used to make steel.

 

But why would I want to spoil some real estate sales person's breakfast ?

[Soikhaonoiken]

There thousands upon thousands of un-sold condos on the market already, due to over supply,  my guess people are doing Internet searches as to find a bargain also due to the weakening Baht, then when or if the economy picks up they re-sell,  these people are called speculators and happens all over the world... 

Edited August 10, 2021 by Soikhaonoiken
Missed words

[bkkcanuck8]

8 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Exactly they want somewhere to go when the Wuhan lab accidentally lets out the next virus. ???? 

You do realize that the Wuhan lab (which may or may not have let out COVID) is a bio-safety level 4 lab in a major city, and the very nature of being human means that there can be mistakes made, some catastrophic...   I was thinking it was dam stupid to have the highest classification biosafety lab in the middle of a major city...   Then I found out, maybe there are more stupid countries so I checked: Melbourne, Singapore, Winnipeg, Hamburg, Berlin, Rome, Taipei, Atlanta, Boston, San Antonio, Buenos Aires... among a lot of other major cities have BSL-4 labs as well...  So the world is full of idiots who should not be throwing stones...

[bkkcanuck8]

5 hours ago, Xonax said:

And it´s still not difficult to find a condo selling for the old 2019 "bargain" price ????. They still believe, that foreign buyers will soon be coming to save the real estate market.

I have my doubts, not enough of a discount for a market that will not have the influx of foreigners -- enough to support a sudden burst of buyers...   There are probably a number of distressed sellers waiting for the chance to dump their property so many of those may also be talking up the market.

[meechai]

15 hours ago, webfact said:

He said this was evidenced by Google Trends; searches showed huge interest especially from prospective Japanese and Chinese buyers. 

Wonder if he ever considered that these searches may be from hand wringing owners wishing they never bought condo's in a Junta controlled country?....As they watch prices plummet

 

Or like the folks who cannot look away from a train wreck?

 

Lastly could also be folks like us who sold in 2016 when we had enough proof the Junta were idiots that would never leave (willingly)

We often like to look at property prices to see in comparison how much cheaper we could buy back that Chiang Mai Condo we sold in 2016

Edited August 10, 2021 by meechai

[hotchilli]

17 hours ago, xtof2 said:

Analyzing the real estate market not by sales but by Google searches…. Amazing !

A bit like counting a window shopper as a customer.. or a tyre-kicker at the weekend looking around the car showroom.

[Artisi]

16 hours ago, Guderian said:

Well, it is currently the silly season in journalistic terms, so I suppose this nonsense is just par for the course, lol.

It's silly season everyday for Thai journalists (so called), therefore this nonsense is a normal everyday event. 

[jacko45k]

12 hours ago, Airalee said:

I too was going to say the same thing.  If the Chinese are supposedly going to come in and buy up all the empty condos, what was stopping them from doing it pre-Covid?

Higher prices and poor exchange rates? 

[Scott Tracy]

Companies pay these people to pull numbers out of the air. Why does anyone listen to them? I have yet to find an analyst who was right in hindsight.

[Darkside Gray]

Sounds like the banks are getting nervous about outstanding loans to developers.

Edited August 11, 2021 by Darkside Gray

[Chris Lawrence]

18 hours ago, RotBenz8888 said:

There is no China town in Huai Khwang, if that was the case we would have heard it, literally. 

Bath houses? me thinks

[Peterw42]

So let me get this right, Chinese cannot search google etc without the use of a VPN. So any search they do will present as an IP address from somewhere other than China.

How are they identifying Chinese doing searches for property?