Hello to all..

I am needing confirmation about the Thai Baht,,

My friend just comeback fromPhuket where he was going to purchase some appartments, After he seen a solicitor in Phuket he was told by the solicitor that he is best off waiting for the Thai Baht to rise? As the Thai Baht is now between 22 --23 Baht for the Aussie dollar the solicitor said that because of the economy and all the protests that have happened in Thailand the Government is wanting to increase the Thai Baht exchange rate to bring back Farangs to Thaialnd?? I just would like some confirmation if anyone has heard of this before or is it just a case of the solicitor not wanting Farang to purchase property in Thailand? I will be back in Thailand April so would be good if the Baht will be good exchange rates for the Farangs? Kind Regards....tinytot

Hello to all..

I am needing confirmation about the Thai Baht,,

My friend just comeback fromPhuket where he was going to purchase some appartments, After he seen a solicitor in Phuket he was told by the solicitor that he is best off waiting for the Thai Baht to rise? As the Thai Baht is now between 22 --23 Baht for the Aussie dollar the solicitor said that because of the economy and all the protests that have happened in Thailand the Government is wanting to increase the Thai Baht exchange rate to bring back Farangs to Thaialnd?? I just would like some confirmation if anyone has heard of this before or is it just a case of the solicitor not wanting Farang to purchase property in Thailand? I will be back in Thailand April so would be good if the Baht will be good exchange rates for the Farangs? Kind Regards....tinytot

When you say the Baht is rising I presume you mean weakening in that you will be able to get more Baht for your foreign currency? That being true there is a case to say that the Baht will weaken this year but by how much and against which currencies is difficult to say. As a general rule the Solicitor's comments are accurate and have nothing to do with him wanting/not wanting farangs to buy property. Having said that, there is also a case to be made that says property prices in Thailand are/will fall(ing) hence waiting seems like a good idea all round.

Edited March 9, 200917 yr by chiang mai

Some economists expect the baht to weaken to 37 to the USD...it's altmost at that point now in fact.

However, if the home currency of your friend is AUD, then he should think about whether he feels the AUD might rally later in 2009. If there is a view that commodity prices might begin to firm up over the next 12 months, such expectation would likely give rise to an appreciation of the AUD.

Real estate prices are unlikely to increase this year so delaying a purchase decision to later in the year might be more prudent.

I agree with mark that delaying it will highly unlikely pose a risk of prices increasing. I would only qualify that position to consider whether the sale price is taking into consideration the strength of the baht if the sale proceeds are leaving LOS. I would want some sort of evidence if that is stated. Hope your friend has done his homework.

Edited March 9, 200917 yr by Isee

Have a look to this interesting article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home

My conclusions are :

1-It is partially true that just lowering the currencies is not a panacea ,but it is happening

2-Tarisa might be right in some points BUT if all other asian countries (except Japan and China) are dramatically downgrading their currencies, Thailand needs to follow not to lose competiviness

So: THB will probably keep falling,,,,at an increasing pace,,,under the pressure of neighbour countries's currencies..