Pattaya Building Boom

[toenail]

The Topin on Ocean 1 brings up a question. I have lived in Pattay for 6 years and have seen many apartment complexes go up within the 6 years I have been here. I am not an expert, but some of these moderately priced ones are not filled up and still have ads selling the condos (3million - 6million baht price range). I seem more new "planned " projects with future starting dates. Everyday I pass by where the Modus condo-hotel complex is "located" next to the Temple of Truth. All I see is an empty field. Same with the Palm and Wong Amat Tower. The two mile area along Wong Amat Beach between the Temple of Truth and Long Beach Hotel would be facing another 4 new huge condo towers. Then there are the ones being built near Cozy Beach...a few in Jomtien area and a couple complexes focusing on the 1 million baht buyer in the city. Is there really that many people that will move into these complexes ...or will many of them end up like others, a dud? Real Estate Magazine , Pattay edition, has an interesting article about the building boom, but it is geared to be positive to encourage people to invest.

Since I have been here, I haven't seen the city to be able to keep up with the increasing volume of people visiting / lliving in Pattaya and seem to be incapable of city planning. Do they wonder how to handle the flow of traffic? Where more water comes from? More treated sewage plants needed? These buildings meeting the building codes????

[FarangBuddha]

I have often wondered if Pattaya has the infrastructure to support these huge condo and hotel developments. This is especially true when it comes to water, as in dry years, most of Jomtien seems to go dry and you see even the posh hotels having to buy water for their guests to bathe in by the tanker-truck full.

As for the extra sewage, I don't even want to think about it (and I never go swimming in the waters around Pattaya)

I don't worry about it much as I have a small house on the Farside, with a large water storage tank. But I do wonder about the other parts of Pattaya.

[Thaifan2]

There now would seem to be an over supply of new Condos ,but they are still building

Edited March 8, 2011 by Thaifan2

[Madame]

There now would seem to be an over supply of new Condos ,but they are still building

Agree.

I read in January or February 2011 issue of a bigger Pattaya condo newspaper that there are not less than 15 huge condos are planned to be built.

I can imagine that the increasing number of Russian tourists will buy a lot of them but not all.

I realized that must be an awful lot of condo which will not be sold when I was heading home one evening on the Dongtan Beach. I happened to look at to the VT7 and I saw that only that wing which is nearest to the beach has "life" (light), the other two wings were completely dark and empty.

I do not know wheter this is because of the 49/51 % rules or the bad reputation during the building process.

[Awohalitsiktoli]

There now would seem to be an over supply of new Condos ,but they are still building

Agree.

I read in January or February 2011 issue of a bigger Pattaya condo newspaper that there are not less than 15 huge condos are planned to be built.

I can imagine that the increasing number of Russian tourists will buy a lot of them but not all.

I realized that must be an awful lot of condo which will not be sold when I was heading home one evening on the Dongtan Beach. I happened to look at to the VT7 and I saw that only that wing which is nearest to the beach has "life" (light), the other two wings were completely dark and empty.

I do not know wheter this is because of the 49/51 % rules or the bad reputation during the building process.

It is without question the most resilient market in Thailand, but it is also without question grossly overdeveloped in terms of supply and demand. You have a lot of foreign speculators buying large blocks and sitting on them waiting for the "miracle" to happen that the real estate self-help tapes have convinced them will take place in the future after the "old Pattaya" is destroyed along with the "old expats." Then you have a lot of rich Thais who have bought units for weekend stays. It is clear most buyers are not actually living in the units. I personally think Pattaya will eventually succumb to the global economic downturn reality, especially if things continue to get more and more expensive. One thing that has kept the place alive is the fact that the cost of living was low in comparison to most Western countries. That is changing and it will negatively impact condo purchases by all sorts of people (IMHO of course). And you have rising crime which is, oddly, not talked about much. The instability inside the country and rising crime will surely take their toll in the future. One can only wonder when the prices will drop substantially.

[PattayaParent]

If they would just finish off all the condos that have been started and not completed then Pattaya would not ever need any more condos.

[tf123456]

don't really see what everyone whines about when it comes to crime and everything getting more expensive. i've been here 5+ years, beer still costs the same, girls cost the same, food costs the same, social activities cost the same, housing costs the same and crime seems to be the same.

tourists keep coming, people are always interested to move here regardless of situations and prices, lots of people prefer to buy new off the plan then from an older building.

in a typical city, the majority of the economic revenue comes from the local population, as does the investment and all the rest. when the economy slows everyone feels it. pattaya has the advantage of being a tourist city, there's always tourists, new money, new people looking to invest, retire, live and work.

[thaimate]

IF you think food costs the same as 5 years ago ,you dont eat much , food for a familly has gone up quite a bit ,as for girls and beer ,the majority of ex pats here are familly men so that doesnt matter , but prices in Pattaya have gone up quite a bit .

[toenail]

IF you think food costs the same as 5 years ago ,you dont eat much , food for a familly has gone up quite a bit ,as for girls and beer ,the majority of ex pats here are familly men so that doesnt matter , but prices in Pattaya have gone up quite a bit .

_________

I agree, prices for food have gone up - including for Thais.

So have the prices for condos gone up in price (for new ones)...Have the prices for "used" condo gone up or depreciated?

[swissie]

Some years ago, a nice gentlemen named Bill Clinton said:...........it's the economy,stupid !

These days, the Condo-Peddlers in Pattaya say:........... it's the Chinese,stupid !

= "China is not a warm-country as far as weather is concerned. The growing affluent china middle-class will act like a big vacuum-cleaner that will suck-up the excess condos in a hurry".

Well, if they do so, they may want to do this as secretly as possible. Because if Family, Friends and Business-Partners should learn about his investement in the major "sin-city" in Asia, the chinese investor will face some problems. (Loosing face in China is as bad as loosing face in Thailand.)

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Much more likely: The "nouveau-rich" from Russia might take off some of the slack. Guaranteed no face-loss. Money alone seems to rule the Russia of today (and nobody cares how it was "earned".)

Cheers.

[Darrel]

I happened to look at to the VT7 and I saw that only that wing which is nearest to the beach has "life" (light), the other two wings were completely dark and empty.

I do not know wheter this is because of the 49/51 % rules or the bad reputation during the building process.

VT7 is an interesting building, and not just because of the legal controversy.

In the front wing sticking out towards the sea just about everything is sold, apart from the 3 columns nearest the side wing on the Pattaya Park side. This front wing contains all the 48sqm studios in the building. These 3 columns nearest the other two wings (and indeed the other two wings) are not nice because the balconies are overlooked by the other wing (quite seriously overlooked actually: from the front wing balcony you can see right into the other rooms on the side wings which are just yards away and could easily hold a conversation with the occupants of 20 other units). On top of that you have the fact that the units in the two empty side wings are all very long and thin making them rather dark and hard to fit out (except for the rather nice corner units, a few of which have sold). Combine that with the fact that they are large and hence expensive and it is no surprise that virtually none have been sold. I could see them hanging around for ever, especially as the farang quota will probably have all gone in the units in the front wing, many of which have very nice views indeed.

I wonder why they ever designed it like that?

[lonewolf99]

The facts stare you in the face every day here.

Oversupply and lack of demand and getting less every day.

I have a good Thai friend involved in the poroperty business for the last 7 years and sales are at their lowest ever.

As posted earlier View Talay 7 is a monolith of darkness at night. A friend of my GF has moved to View Talay 8 recently. There are about 3 units with any one in them. We visited on a breezy day. The noise of the wind rushing through the main entrance is deafening. Like a howling banshee. Becase of the design and the fact there are no other large buildings nearby to break up the wind - I guess ?

Or maybe Venturi Effect I think - Look it up ...

The chances of Condo prices dropping are as about as likeley as Glaciers forming tomorrow on Buddha Hill.

Bringing the price down never happens in Thailand as it is tied into losing face etc....

Hence the madness of the price of 2nd hand cars in this country...!!!!

I have noticed some "Foreign Owned" condo prices are getting reduced in a desperate move to sell.

But who in their rightmind wants to buy into a a market of such uncertaintity ??? Not me .....

[Gik]

don't really see what everyone whines about when it comes to crime and everything getting more expensive. i've been here 5+ years, beer still costs the same, girls cost the same, food costs the same, social activities cost the same, housing costs the same and crime seems to be the same.

Beer price is up to 30%. 5 years ago it was like 20 baht for a can of chang. The food prices about the same but the portions are much smaller (5 years ago you could get 100 gramms of meat now it's only 40).

5 years ago you could find a very petite pretty girl on the beach now i wish you good luck to find one.

I am not sure about the crime but were there so many drug pushers like now ?

social activities cost the same

Movie tickets about the same. here you are totally right,

[gk10002000]

don't really see what everyone whines about when it comes to crime and everything getting more expensive. i've been here 5+ years, beer still costs the same, girls cost the same, food costs the same, social activities cost the same, housing costs the same and crime seems to be the same.

Beer price is up to 30%. 5 years ago it was like 20 baht for a can of chang. The food prices about the same but the portions are much smaller (5 years ago you could get 100 gramms of meat now it's only 40).

5 years ago you could find a very petite pretty girl on the beach now i wish you good luck to find one.

I am not sure about the crime but were there so many drug pushers like now ?

social activities cost the same

Movie tickets about the same. here you are totally right,

Hotel prices have krept up and quality has gone down. used to be able to rent a decent room at Flipper, like the one in the photos with the wicker chairs for 200 baht or more less per night than they charge now, but they never "have" the rooms available.

I was there last May and ran into some brits we have befriended the last 4 years. We both commented on the definite decrease in the really good lookers. I am going over 50 so believe me, most of the girls look just fine to me, but I do notice a definite difference. Perhaps they are going to other towns, or focusing on Bangkok?

[janverbeem]

^ It's like with everything,there is local and export quality.

Edited March 15, 2011 by janverbeem

[Panhandler007]

l.

As for the extra sewage, I don't even want to think about it (and I never go swimming in the waters around Pattaya)

Last tyme I took a dip in its waters I remember seeing lots of plastic crap floating in the water. RAW WASTE dumped into the ocean! Yum, yum!