Any Lasting Effects On Property Values After Talks Of Moving Capital To Hua Hin?

[maccaroni man]

From what I understand after all the floods in bkk and the predictions of bkk sinking that there was a strong movement to make HH the new capital. Did this have any effect on the property value and does anyone think the capital could move to HH?

[ShopBoy]

there is not only a stong movment to make HH the new capital..

it's happening in Chinag mai, Phuket, Pattatya ,Chiang Rai, and few more provinces as well

[PattayaPhom]

Hua Hin over the past 4 years has seen condos being at built at South HH and especiallyTakiab and sold to Thais. Last year the latest area is between Cha am and Bang Kwai, again sold predominatly to Thais. Prices have increased steadily but no great increase. The demand is still there. As for the capitol moving from BKK, thats probably not going to happen.

[chiang mai]

Not in our life time, not to HH or anywhere else.

[hhfarang]

Property values rise for NEW properties in Hua Hin, and maybe beach front condos, but once you move in to a house then you'll be lucky to sell it at all as Thais don't like to buy anything used. I know several people who have sold at a loss, one at 50% of what he paid in a nice community. The few lucky ones who have made a profit have either sold to foreigners or they are in an excellent (downtown, beachfront, or golf course) location. Had I known this buying habit of Thais I would still be renting.

[hhfarang]

Double post deleted.

[geriatrickid]

With only one major road, I'd hate to see what traffic would be like if a few thousand more vehicles are added to the roads here. You should have seen the traffic jam outside market village yesterday afternoon.

[darrendsd]

With only one major road, I'd hate to see what traffic would be like if a few thousand more vehicles are added to the roads here. You should have seen the traffic jam outside market village yesterday afternoon.

The traffic problems on Petchkasem road would be solved in seconds if they simply stopped cars/bikes parking on the inside lane, they do this now and again when somebody big is in town and the effect on the traffic is amazing with traffic flowing freely

[PattayaPhom]

New Year is the exception and most new devlopments are North of HH so the traffic has no need to enter HH with Makro, Big C and the new mall all Northern locations.

[ItDontMeanAThing]

The traffic problems on Petchkasem road would be solved in seconds if they simply stopped cars/bikes parking on the inside lane, they do this now and again when somebody big is in town and the effect on the traffic is amazing with traffic flowing freely

(You or your culture's use of 'inside lane' differs from my understanding. In the US the inside lane is the one closest to the center of the road. Never seen cars & bikes park there so seems to me the inside lane in your usage is the one farthest from the center. I'm a regular Sherlock Holmes.)

Two problems with that. First is the shopowners along Petchkasem would see their business plummet. Second is traffic expands to fit the available space. I don't know any residents who choose to drive through the center of town on Petch without first considering time of day, day of week and time of year. Add another lane and they'll drive more often, negating the effect of not parking on the inside lane.

[chiang mai]

The traffic problems on Petchkasem road would be solved in seconds if they simply stopped cars/bikes parking on the inside lane, they do this now and again when somebody big is in town and the effect on the traffic is amazing with traffic flowing freely

(You or your culture's use of 'inside lane' differs from my understanding. In the US the inside lane is the one closest to the center of the road. Never seen cars & bikes park there so seems to me the inside lane in your usage is the one farthest from the center. I'm a regular Sherlock Holmes.)

Back to front, as with many things!

[darrendsd]

The traffic problems on Petchkasem road would be solved in seconds if they simply stopped cars/bikes parking on the inside lane, they do this now and again when somebody big is in town and the effect on the traffic is amazing with traffic flowing freely

(You or your culture's use of 'inside lane' differs from my understanding. In the US the inside lane is the one closest to the center of the road. Never seen cars & bikes park there so seems to me the inside lane in your usage is the one farthest from the center. I'm a regular Sherlock Holmes.)

Two problems with that. First is the shopowners along Petchkasem would see their business plummet. Second is traffic expands to fit the available space. I don't know any residents who choose to drive through the center of town on Petch without first considering time of day, day of week and time of year. Add another lane and they'll drive more often, negating the effect of not parking on the inside lane.

In the US it would be classed as the lane nearest the sidewalk

Yes valid point regarding the businesses on Petchkasem road however due to the state of some the back roads in HH most residents have no choice but to use the main road even though they know it will be busy, I live on Soi 102 and if I get a Tuk Tuk into town my driver refuses to use the back roads, he will go on Petch Road even when he knows it will be busy, it's a set price everytime and probably takes him 2-3 times longer than going on the back road so he is losing out money wise but he would rather do that than get his Tuk Tuk damaged just to save a few minutes.

[TCA]

Off topic but actually UK and US use the same terminology. Inside or outside lane refers to its position relative to the driver's seat. i.e:

UK - right hand drive car on left side of road, so the overtaking/passing lane to the driver's immediate right, nearest the central reservation, is the inside lane. And vice-versa.

US - left hand drive car on right side of road, so the overtaking/passing lane to the driver's immediate left, nearest the central reservation, is the inside lane. And vice-versa.

OK. Back to topic!

[hhfarang]

Off topic but actually UK and US use the same terminology. Inside or outside lane refers to its position relative to the driver's seat. i.e:

UK - right hand drive car on left side of road, so the overtaking/passing lane to the driver's immediate right, nearest the central reservation, is the inside lane. And vice-versa.

US - left hand drive car on right side of road, so the overtaking/passing lane to the driver's immediate left, nearest the central reservation, is the inside lane. And vice-versa.

OK. Back to topic!

Wrong, about the U.S. at least.

Yet other terms that differ or mean the opposite between the U.S. and the U.K. From Wikipedia (which was taken from the respective driving manuals):

"In North American terminology, the passing lane is often known as the number one lane, left lane, or leftmost lane, due to left hand drive (driving on the right), and the rightmost slow lane is sometimes called the "outside lane", because the lane nearest the center of the roadway is considered "inside".

The official British Highway Code uses the term right hand lane, due to right hand drive (driving on the left). Unofficially, the overtaking lane is also called the outer or outside lane, since the edge of the road nearer to the verge (or nearer the hard shoulder, if there is one) is considered "inside" the other lanes."

Now it's sorted and we can get back to topic...

[TCA]

hhfarang - you've just repeated what I said for US but looks like I got the UK back to front. I'll shut up in future!

Now, back to topic!

[hhfarang]

It's all very confusing, why can't we just standardize everything!

[Choonpon]

From what I understand after all the floods in bkk and the predictions of bkk sinking that there was a strong movement to make HH the new capital. Did this have any effect on the property value and does anyone think the capital could move to HH?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect App

HH is coastal town? It could be flooded in the future as well. A tsunami?

[hhfarang]

It's my understanding that the chances of a tsunami in Hua Hin are slim to none as it is on the gulf side. The big underwater faults are on the Andaman side off Myanmar.

[a10ams]

Off topic but actually UK and US use the same terminology. Inside or outside lane refers to its position relative to the driver's seat. i.e:

UK - right hand drive car on left side of road, so the overtaking/passing lane to the driver's immediate right, nearest the central reservation, is the inside lane. And vice-versa.

US - left hand drive car on right side of road, so the overtaking/passing lane to the driver's immediate left, nearest the central reservation, is the inside lane. And vice-versa.

OK. Back to topic!

Please tell me you don't have a driving license!!!

[Windy]

If the capital was to move, it would be more likely northeast, ie Khon Kaen.

[maccaroni man]

If the capital was to move, it would be more likely northeast, ie Khon Kaen.

there is already a palace and royal residence in hh which is why i saw it as a possibility if it ever happened.

[hhfarang]

There's not enough room in Hua Hin for parliament and all the government buildings and agencies that would have to move unless they used the huge military land area between Hua Hin and Cha-Am. Hua Hin's infrastructure is already stretched way beyond its limits as it hasn't kept up with growth in the last eight years. A lot of work would have to be done. They would probably even have to build a desalination plant as there are already water shortages during the dry season. There isn't even an airport here with a runway big enough to handle larger planes. No way it happens until Bangkok has sunk to knee deep year round.

[Wanderlust]

I think hhfarang has pretty much summed it up, but I would just like to add that there could be some confusion as Hua Hin is destined to become a provincial capital in the not too distant future, if the plans that have been made to create a new province encompassing Hua Hin, Cha Am and possibly Pranburi are realised, and given the amount of infrastructure and public building work that has been and is going on then that does look like happening.

I think there is zero chance of Hua Hin either ever becoming the nation's capital or suffering a tsunami, certainly not in the lifetimes of anyone alive now anyway. Getting back to the original post though, I also believe that Hua Hin is on the verge of experiencing a massive boom in all respects - housing prices, tourists, jobs, residential population and all the negatives that come with that as well, with the creaking utilities infrastructure in desperate need of investment to cope with it, particularly the water supply. I believe some money has been spent to try and improve things but I don't think enough to keep pace. Even so, Hua Hin in a couple of years really will be a different place so if the question was posed as to whether now is a good time to invest in property here I would generally say yes, but would also agree with hhf about the demand here being for new properties, so land is probably the thing to invest in.

[hhfarang]

Yes, the building boom started eight years ago just after I moved here. In 2003, when I bought my land the only place to buy groceries in town other than 7/11, Family Mart, and the small Thai and Chinese shops was the old Hua Hin Shopping Mall at the main intersection beside what was then the open Satukarn Square. There were not huge walled housing developments; you bought your land and built your own house. The only hardware stores were the small mom and pop ones and there was little traffic and no parking hassles. I did have to make a trip per week to Bangkok for nearly two years to get what I needed to outfit a western style home as there was no place here to buy decent furniture, fixtures, or appliances. I had to go to Petchaburi for the nearest decent health care/checkups, and I did fill my car with goodies from Villa Market every time we went to Bangkok, but I liked it better that way before the hordes of foreign property developers and land speculators discovered the place. The town had a good balance then between a Thai fishing village and a quieter (mostly Thai) seaside resort. There were still enough bars and restaurants for the few expats and the few European tourists who had discovered the place but it was generally very quiet compared to what it is now.

As Wanderlust has said, the infrastructure is already lagging way behind growth and I don't see things getting better, only worse as the population increases. In other words, welcome to Phuket part deux.... over expensive (for Thailand) and overpopulated living.

We have our house on the market and will be returning to the U.S. a few months after it sells as the cost of living in Hua Hin is now approximately the same as it is there as long as you stay out of the more expensive cities/states and the standard of living is much better there.