Thailand mulls allowing foreigners to buy 75% of condo units

[jaywalker2]

1 hour ago, loong said:

Isn't building condos a significant part of the PM's family business?

He's the founder of Sansiri one of biggest real estate developers in Thailand and he was one of the biggest shareholders before transferring the shares to his daughter when he ran for PM.  I guess they must have a lot of excess condos on their hands.

[scubascuba3]

19 minutes ago, jaywalker2 said:

He's the founder of Sansiri one of biggest real estate developers in Thailand and he was one of the biggest shareholders before transferring the shares to his daughter when he ran for PM.  I guess they must have a lot of excess condos on their hands.

Probably right but still a good idea, for Thais too

[Dart12]

Who cares.

but  What happened to the wine tluxury import tax that supposedly ended months ago but is still on all the bottles at the stores? 😝 

[BritScot]

4 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I own my condominium unit 100%, in my name. And I am not alone. 

You know they are talking about the units in a block? IE! Only 49% apartments in a condo unit can be owned by the dirty, smelly, criminal, unclean foreigners!!! The other 51% are owned by saintly, perfect, all knowing, hub owning Thai!

[Celsius]

I love renting. Bring more of those dumb Taiwanese and HK investors. The rental prices will crash even more.

 

Currently renting their 7 mil baht condo they are trying to offload to break even for 18,000b a month. That is some great return. Condo fees alone are 3000b a month 

Edited June 22 by Celsius

[khunPer]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul indicated on Friday that the Land Act requires minimal changes. The existing law already permits a 50-year lease with an option to extend for another 50 years.

Anybody that knows when khun Anutin changed the law from 30 years to 50 years..?

Thai Newsroom writes, what is normally common knowledge...
 

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Presently, the maximum duration for property leases is 30 years, with an extension of another 30 years available, albeit generally as a private agreement between the involved parties.

 

[newnative]

1 hour ago, jaywalker2 said:

He's the founder of Sansiri one of biggest real estate developers in Thailand and he was one of the biggest shareholders before transferring the shares to his daughter when he ran for PM.  I guess they must have a lot of excess condos on their hands.

    Can't speak for other places but Sansiri does not have 'a lot of excess condos' in Pattaya.  The Base and Baan Plai Haad are either sold out or very close to it.  The Edge is newer but I think has also been a success.

[rgrdns]

This ministerial decree is a logical result due to the years of condominiums oversupply, more than a decennium ago the condominium occupation rate was 80% today 50%. I believe this ministerial decision 49% to 75% for foreigner's is wise, but will it happen?!

[sabaijai]

3 hours ago, No Forwarding Address said:

Don’t know what you are on about, but we all  own 100% of our condos…….the article is changing Foreigner ownership ‘quota' to 75%’of a Condo  Building instead of only 49% with 51% owned by Thais.  In my case, I like it the way it is, all the owners on my floor are rich Thais, that only use their condos on weekends and holiays, got the floor mostly to myself.   Cheers

I also prefer the current 49% limit. In the condo building where I own a unit, it's the foreign owners who act like the biggest jerks at the meetings and are continually making ridiculous demands that none of the Thai owners, nor myself, approve of. At meetings where votes take place, I usually side with Thai owners on most issues. 

If the law passes, and my condo building becomes dominated by foreign ownership, I will most likely rent my unit and move to a cheap rental just to get away from the angst-ridden foreigner condo politics.

Edited June 22 by sabaijai

[sabaijai]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

It's a good move, overdue, allows Thais to sell their condos to foreigners, currently so many can't be sold as Thais don't want them. A win win in Pattaya

 

And they'll want them even less if this law goes through.

[sabaijai]

1 hour ago, jaywalker2 said:

He's the founder of Sansiri one of biggest real estate developers in Thailand and he was one of the biggest shareholders before transferring the shares to his daughter when he ran for PM.  I guess they must have a lot of excess condos on their hands.

Yes. This is akin to Thaksin's sale of ShinCorp after he changed the law to remove capital gains tax on such sales. 

[scubascuba3]

15 minutes ago, sabaijai said:

 

And they'll want them even less if this law goes through.

i don't see that, it means they have a better opportunity to sell, my condo has loads of condos in thai name for sale for decades

[BobBKK]

Great - and then tax us all 35% - what could go wrong?

[Furioso]

It's obvious they overbuilt. Way too much inventory. Otherwise rent would be way higher.

 

I've been in condo buildings where a whole floor is practically empty. 

[scubascuba3]

38 minutes ago, newnative said:

    Can't speak for other places but Sansiri does not have 'a lot of excess condos' in Pattaya.  The Base and Baan Plai Haad are either sold out or very close to it.  The Edge is newer but I think has also been a success.

i heard about a condo block in Jomtien that had 1500 for sale, 30 sold and stalled, Chinese and Russians have stopped buying

[patman30]

not surprising seeing how they changed the tax laws.

[newnative]

7 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

i heard about a condo block in Jomtien that had 1500 for sale, 30 sold and stalled, Chinese and Russians have stopped buying

Not a Sansiri product.  Maybe that big Chinese project that stalled during covid.   Others have done ok--Riviera Jomtien, Monaco, and Ocean Drive.  Cetus, Aeras, Copacabana, Lumpini Park Beach and Seaview, etc.

[kimamey]

6 hours ago, impulse said:

Seeing what's happening to weed, and so many whipsawing immigration policies, why would anyone believe they won't reverse course in a couple of years and decimate the value of that additional 25% of condos?  Or even all condos, when sellers are forced to sell to Thais to get the project back into balance.

 

 

That's always the problem you need to consider. 

[wordchild]

6 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

It would be interesting to see some numbers how many condominiums are on the current 50% limit. In Bangkok that seem to be only very few.

yes you are correct, at least the last time i checked with CBRE. I believe there are only a handful of Bangkok condos where the ownership is anywhere near the 49 pct.

This is really more of an issue for Phuket and Pattaya

[geisha]

7 hours ago, Karma80 said:

Need to grab all the Chinese and HK money somehow I guess. Worked out so well for everywhere else that's done this...

Where has this worked out so well ?
Also , there are hundreds of thousands ( numbers ?) of empty condos . How will raising the law of 49% limit to 75% attract more buyers ? 
i have rented two new build condos in the last 10 years , ans stayed in another just after Covid in Phuket for a few months .

The three of them were badly built, flimsy walls and locked front doors you could open with a push. The one in Jomtien had all the shelves and cupboards collapse when I was watching tv giving me nearly a heart attack. Windows couldn’t close or couldn’t open. Drains were unbearable smelly, the kitchen sink and elements were built for a dwarf . In the 80s I rented a small Thai row house which was at least solid and cheap, and then I found a wonderful apartment owned by a Thai American journalist, it was the only one of my 40 years of Thailand that was well built. Unfortunately after a few years they built a little soi with bars and restaurants right under my living room view, on what was once rice fields and wandering buffaloes. So I moved . I could easily have bought something over the years but my experiences put me off . Too much trouble. I’m happy renting less than six months of the year in the dry season in a very small family run condo . 

 

[geisha]

26 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

i heard about a condo block in Jomtien that had 1500 for sale, 30 sold and stalled, Chinese and Russians have stopped buying

You can see from the road at night. No light s on. 

[Tequila makes me happy]

4 hours ago, samtam said:

 

Foreigners can already vote in an AGM and their vote is the same as Thai owners.

 

 

 

I am a foreigner with 100% ownership of my condo. I am chairman of the board of the condo. I have as much say as anyone else in the running of the building, (through my vote at the AGM). As it is, my position allows me to have a very large say in how the building is run. Our condo rules specify expenditure limits, significant structural changes etc, that require AGM majority voting. This applies to all owners, irrespective of their nationality.

I think the pertinent question is actually, if foreigners own 75% of the condos but only 49% of them can vote, then who will comprise the 26 % that does not get a vote.

[connda]

How about just offering 100% ownership.  Sorta like a Thai with a green card can do in the US.

[spidermike007]

You can tell how desperate they are now that the economy is in a downward skid. They have no policy, so they are just throwing ideas into a hat. This administration seems even worse than Prayuth. Who could have thought? 

 

Srettha was a true bottom of the barrel pick. As are all the cabinet ministers.

[wordchild]

1 minute ago, Tequila makes me happy said:

I think the pertinent question is actually, if foreigners own 75% of the condos but only 49% of them can vote, then who will comprise the 26 % that does not get a vote.

Maybe they will come up with something like the NVDR scheme as used by the Thai stock market. It has worked pretty well since it was introduced a number of years ago, and it has been suggested before, that the condo market could operate in a similar way; 

Eg  if F (foreign) allocation  is available you can buy F, if not available you can buy in NVDR form, which means your ownership is via a centrally controlled entity which will hold the voting rights, however all other ownership rights remain with you. In practice this means you can get your dividends and sell your shares same as any other owner, the only thing you cannot do is vote at the AGM. 

Before the introduction of NVDR there used to be some ridiculous anomalies in the Thai stock market. When Thailand was popular with foreign investors  there could , on occasions, be a 20pct+ difference between the F tradable shares  and the local version. something similar to the Phuket condo market at times in the past.

Since the introduction of the NVDR scheme this has all disappeared, foreigners can now buy local shares and convert them to NVDR form immediately  and when they want to sell they can simply sell them as local shares. There is almost never any premium for F registered shares anymore, in practice there is a level playing field.

[Yumthai]

47 minutes ago, connda said:

How about just offering 100% ownership.  Sorta like a Thai with a green card can do in the US.

Actually foreigners do not need to hold a green card to own US property, they just need money.

[cedel]

Anyway, you are still not allowed to buy the plot of land where your house is constructed, contrarily to western countries where everyone who buys a house buys also the parcel of land and garden belonging to the house !

In Thailand, this problem makes it almost mandatory to buy or create a thai company with nominees, which is reportedly not legal and faces problems if they decide it...although this practice has been used largely nationwide for decades by all the foreigners to circumvent this law about the land...

We have all heard of the French lady who commited suicide in Koh-Samui and donated her house to her maid, and the company owning the land with nominees is said to be an illegal practice....

[Gknrd]

What a clown show Thailand is. 

[Maestro]

7 hours ago, jippytum said:

currently you are allowed three votes at the  condo AGM as a maximum regardless of the number of units owned. 

 

 

Does this rule apply only to foreigners?

[newnative]

2 hours ago, Tequila makes me happy said:

I think the pertinent question is actually, if foreigners own 75% of the condos but only 49% of them can vote, then who will comprise the 26 % that does not get a vote.

     All foreign condo owners in a project should still get a vote.  The condo vote will likely be weighted so that the foreign quota owners will not have more than 49% of the vote.