Empty Condos

[phetaroi]

I recently moved into an apartment complex on Suk Soi 24. It appears to us that most of the condos that surround us are empty. It's been a month now and in LaRafine (sp?) on one side of the building there have ever only been lights on in 3 out of about 32 units we can see. That's the worst, but all of the condos here appear to be at least half empty.

Thoughts?

I would think the rents are way too high and they should lower them.

[trogers]

I recently moved into an apartment complex on Suk Soi 24. It appears to us that most of the condos that surround us are empty. It's been a month now and in LaRafine (sp?) on one side of the building there have ever only been lights on in 3 out of about 32 units we can see. That's the worst, but all of the condos here appear to be at least half empty.

Thoughts?

I would think the rents are way too high and they should lower them.

How much rent are you paying? What is the unit size?

[oldsalt]

Times are tough and I suspect many owners are sitting on empty properties. My monthly income recently dropped dramatically and I told my landlady I'd be moving fulltime from Bangkok to my house in the north. She told me I could stay on for free until my income improved again! (She has always been a great landlady and when I moved in seven years ago, said she would never put up the rent - which she hasn't - and it's a bargain rent anyway). She has another rental property which she says has been empty since the farang tenant moved out. There are more empty apartments in the building than there have ever been.

It's a bit like the "good old days" just after the '97 crash when I first came to Bangkok and rents and deals were phenomenal. Mind you, I'd still rather have my old income back and pay the full rent.....

[bangkokjohn]

Times are tough and I suspect many owners are sitting on empty properties. My monthly income recently dropped dramatically and I told my landlady I'd be moving fulltime from Bangkok to my house in the north. She told me I could stay on for free until my income improved again! (She has always been a great landlady and when I moved in seven years ago, said she would never put up the rent - which she hasn't - and it's a bargain rent anyway). She has another rental property which she says has been empty since the farang tenant moved out. There are more empty apartments in the building than there have ever been.

It's a bit like the "good old days" just after the '97 crash when I first came to Bangkok and rents and deals were phenomenal. Mind you, I'd still rather have my old income back and pay the full rent.....

Many people in Thailand buy apartments and land to hide cash. There are no preperty taxes(yet) and it is easy to conceal ownership. Think of those buildings as banks. Hard to steal an apartment! Decent property tax of 1% a year would increase use of apartments but probably really crash prices.

[phetaroi]

Last evening I had dinner with a well-placed gentleman who works with international companies in finding living accommodations for farangs. He was very familiar with most of the condo properties on Suk 24. He said that those buildings that appear to be mostly empty...are...and it's because they have not been renovated and that it's very difficult to place people in unrenovated units.

So to the idea that it's a long-term investment...I would think the investment value would be dropping rather consistently.

[trogers]

I would think the rents are way too high and they should lower them.

Are rents too high because selling prices have lost correlation to rental value?

[loverboy44]

I would think the rents are way too high and they should lower them.

Are rents too high because selling prices have lost correlation to rental value?

In some way yes. As an investment for example you say the price of the property, depending on the area is 10-11 times (just an example) the yearly rent. So, if you go the other way round and the condo sales price drops, the rent actually has to follow.

[seank]

There are 120condos in my block and 65 are empty,most are for rent but no landlord is dropping their price so I reackon they will stay empty for a long time.