Udon Enjoying A Property Boom Prior To Asean Economic Community Kickoff

[jamescollister]

One thing for sure, Udon will not gain much on the tourist trail. Rental properties available in Udon can be counted on two hands, no tourist company having issan let alone Udon as a destination to visit, very little to see, Chiang Mai, Phuket or Pattaya it is not. And why Bangkok yuppies would come to a place that is the butt of their jokes is a mystery. It will be, no doubt, become a busier Thai market town, but never a 'boom town'!!!

Don't think it has anything to do with tourist, it's all about industry. Not many people want to have holidays in places that have factories.

Many places in Issan are growing industrially. Wife attended a SME conference last year in Ubon. Issan is a development area, special tax breaks for people to set up here. Ubon was not one off them. It was doing fine by itself.

We are out in the boonies and renewed our company license, 5 year. 100,000 Baht normally, a zoned a development area. 3.000 Baht. Jim

[ubonrthai]

Google has been adding some great new satellite imagery and Udon's is very recent. Here is a comparison of 2000 with just last month's imagery.

[Theboy]

One thing for sure, Udon will not gain much on the tourist trail. Rental properties available in Udon can be counted on two hands, no tourist company having issan let alone Udon as a destination to visit, very little to see, Chiang Mai, Phuket or Pattaya it is not. And why Bangkok yuppies would come to a place that is the butt of their jokes is a mystery. It will be, no doubt, become a busier Thai market town, but never a 'boom town'!!!

The last thing Udon wants are the Bangkok yuppies - they are a p[ain in the neck as can be seen for example in Pattaya

[JLCrab]

From JC above: Don't think it has anything to do with tourist, it's all about industry

Well of course but if you drive or take a bus from BKK to KK you will pass many completed and in-the-works industrial zones that have signs like 'space available' and 'move in and have your factory operating tomorrow'.

[jamescollister]

From JC above: Don't think it has anything to do with tourist, it's all about industry

Well of course but if you drive or take a bus from BKK to KK you will pass many completed and in-the-works industrial zones that have signs like 'space available' and 'move in and have your factory operating tomorrow'.

Speculators will come and just like in housing, location, location. Just the way of the world. Jim

[farangme]

One thing for sure, Udon will not gain much on the tourist trail. Rental properties available in Udon can be counted on two hands, no tourist company having issan let alone Udon as a destination to visit, very little to see, Chiang Mai, Phuket or Pattaya it is not. And why Bangkok yuppies would come to a place that is the butt of their jokes is a mystery. It will be, no doubt, become a busier Thai market town, but never a 'boom town'!!!

Although you're missing a key driver for Udon, its proximity to Vientianne, I for one hope it doesn't 'boom' too much. Would hate to see it have all the problems like Phuket, Pats, Changmai, etc. We like our little 'market town' with amenities and not the sleaze, scams and scoundrels.

[ubonrthai]

In its defense Chiang Mai is significantly more pleasant than Phuket or Pattaya. Easier to get away from tourism and sleaze though it's still there. I don't think we have too much to worry about in our Isan cities in terms of foreign tourism ruining the atmosphere.

Edited January 25, 2013 by ubonrthai

[JLCrab]

Speculators? Say it isn't so. But if I were a speculator (perish the thought) where I would be heading is Mukdahan.

All one has to do is look at a topo map of Northern Laos and then into China and know that the route over the Mukdahan bridge to Savannakhet, then through Laos and to the Vietnam coast, and then either to the Vietnam harbors or continuing on to PR China / Nanning is going to be the preferred over land route.

[ubonrthai]

A few months ago I asked an industrial property salesman in Bangkok what would open up Isan to more industry and he said a better rail system and industry would explode. He said there's a lot of foreign inquiries into building factories in Isan because of a massive work force available but getting their goods to port in Chonburi is the problem and the current rail system can't transport the goods. Most of Isan is too far away to make transporting it by truck worth it. Or so says he...

[jamescollister]

A few months ago I asked an industrial property salesman in Bangkok what would open up Isan to more industry and he said a better rail system and industry would explode. He said there's a lot of foreign inquiries into building factories in Isan because of a massive work force available but getting their goods to port in Chonburi is the problem and the current rail system can't transport the goods. Most of Isan is too far away to make transporting it by truck worth it. Or so says he...

Thai TV news yesterday, couldn't follow it [ Thais not that good ] but it was showing the new or proposed high speed train lines.

Have read a few English language stories on this Chinese sponsored, in partnership with other countries high speed link up. Seems the lines are already there, but need upgraded. Only Lao had to start from scratch, In theory you can load goods on a train in Cambodia bound for Germany. Big project, but the Chinese are into big and long term, think they were talking 20 years.

World is changing and being in the right place at the right time can mean big bucks. Not so much for morals as we die, but businesses don't have a limited life span. Jim

[JLCrab]

Jim -- Did you maybe mean 'Not so much for mortals'?

Someone once told me of a negotiation he was in in USA. Someone said to a potential European investor "That will take about 20 years." The Euro guy said " Well our company has been in business for over 300 years and so what!"

I use the SRT train reasonably often. My attitude is that it will get me there maybe not on schedule but today. Maybe. But you sure get your 30 baht's worth.

Edited January 25, 2013 by JLCrab

[slipperylobster]

no tourist company having issan let alone Udon as a destination to visit, very little to see, Chiang Mai, Phuket or Pattaya it is not.

Thank Goodness. After vising most of the othercommon tourist traps, such as Chiang Mai, Phuket and Pattaya (among others) I finally found a decent place to live in Udon. Chiang Mai would have been nice except for the worst air pollution/traffic I have ever encountered outside Bangkok. Its clean living here, and you can still leave your door unlocked (i prefer not to).. You won't get the heebie jeebies walking by all the sleazy stuff you find elsewhere, and people don't grab your arm trying to sell you a damn hat to something. If you think we are isolated here, consider that in 5 minutes I can be at the airport...no waiting....and off on a short flight to Phuket/Chiang Mai or Bangkok. Smart to catch those online specials to Phuket for 900 baht and Bangkok for 750 or less. I pay 2500 baht for a 3 bedroom//3bath (abeit older style) home.on 2 rai of land (IN THE CITY) lol. Gym at the University one block from my house, Buffet at at Napalai Hotel or Prajacktra Hotel for 180/160. Nicest people I met. met a girl who sells furniture in Big C from a nice family. Private Parties everywhere (you have to get invited) . Last night we my gals friend had an older brother that put on a party at the Caltex (40 k south) and had more big wigs from Bangkok and up here than i had eve seen. 5 star catering, 200,000 baht band f(NATIONAL STATUS) Imported whiskey (Seagrams sand JW) on every table...some of the nicest people I ever met in my life. Just an example of why I stay. Mountains much cleaner than Chiang Mai only 2 hours (in Loei). Please don;t bring your tourist crap here and ruin it for me....thanks

[Thai at Heart]

From JC above: Don't think it has anything to do with tourist, it's all about industry

Well of course but if you drive or take a bus from BKK to KK you will pass many completed and in-the-works industrial zones that have signs like 'space available' and 'move in and have your factory operating tomorrow'.

There is a 4000 rai industry's industrial area planned for Khon Kaen. Udon missed out. All Chinese money.

It will is planned to be built next to singhas brewery in tha phra.

[rosst]

With all due respect, when prices are going up, and "everyone" believes they will keep going up just because they "always go up," it's a good time to bail out. Common sense and ROI prudence have gone out the window in favor of speculation.

In the article linked above, who has the crystal ball that says prices are set to double? Anyone with that kind of clairvoyance would be so rich he would no longer be writing for a publication. This is indeed irrational exuberance.

"However, recent signals suggest there has been a slowing down in the BMR (Bangkok) market, where the absorption rate of new housing units has been flat at 35-40% and inventory levels are surging.

Moreover, housing prices are rising at a higher rate than average income growth, dragging down affordability. Although many developers have introduced smaller-sized units keeping prices down in some instances, how much smaller can room sizes become? Some are already as small as 20-30 square metres." Link

So they have overbuilt BKK into a bubble that will burst, because they actually say people can no longer afford to buy. Now, drunk on their excess in Bangkok but having overbuilt it, they will move to other areas with far less demand from people who can actually pay the prices.

Farm land doesn't make sense for ROI. Land prices for housing don't make sense based on affordability of the actual end user.

The only reason prices are going up is speculation driven by those who believe land prices will go up "because they always do." That was proven wrong in 1997 in LOS and in 2006 in the US. A lot of the "smartest people around" got fooled and ruined. Big Wall Street firms and banks went bust. Some didn't go bust only because they got bailed out.

Six years later the US housing market hasn't recovered although there are signs but not proof that it may have bottomed out. Six years ago the smartest money around was betting on further price increases but they instead crashed. I could go back to the Spring of 2006 and find articles like this, just before everything crashed in just two months in the summer. Just like the silver crash in around 1980, when it went from $50 an ounce to $5 an ounce overnight, when it happens it's too late to get out. Silver has never since recovered to those prices more than 30 years later.

When this real estate speculative bubble bursts in LOS, it will set the country's economy back for ten years or more. Thai banks may need international bailouts. Farm land will again be worth a price based on what it can produce. Home prices will again be based on what people can afford because after all, no one can repeal the law of supply and demand.

There is too much supply and the lack of demand is beginning to show. The cracks are there to see for those who have eyes to see.

A very concise and rational thinker whose only factual error was that the US market recovery is underway with the highest annual growth for seven years. A minor point, the rest of the assessment is bang on, let us watch and wait. Let us hope we can have a happy landing, perhaps it will slow down and will not crash to the financial ruin it could.

Well said sir.