Bangkok 3rd cheapest office location despite higher take-up rate, rents
THE NATION

THAILAND: -- BANGKOK WAS STILL the third-cheapest office location in Asia-Pacific last quarter, despite the increases in take-up rate and rents, according to CB Richard Ellis.

"Bangkok recorded an eighth consecutive quarter of growth for prime Grade A CBD [central business district] rents, an 8.6-per-cent increase year on year to Bt880 per square metre per month.

Demand was firm and primarily came from international companies across a wide range of sectors," Nithipat Tongpun, executive director of office services at CBRE Thailand, said yesterday.

"No new Grade A supply was completed. Grade A rents will continue to rise on the back of limited supply and steady demand but the growth rate has now passed the peak," he said.

The firm's "Asia-Pacific Office MarketView" study showed that only Manila and Wellington were cheaper than Bangkok.

The report also showed office occupiers across the Asia-Pacific region remained cautious as the regional economic outlook remained downbeat, a trend that continued to inhibit leasing activity across most markets.

The CBRE Asia-Pacific Office Rental Index recorded marginal growth of 0.1 per cent quarter on quarter in the April-to-June period and has been flat for the past seven quarters. The year-on-year change was down 0.2 per cent, marking the third straight quarterly decline.

The most significant rental movement was in Beijing, where Grade A rents fell for the first time in three years.

Comparatively more upbeat markets were led by Tokyo, which recorded Grade A rental growth of 1.5 per cent quarter on quarter, the first time in five years that rents have risen for two straight quarters.

Net absorption last quarter totalled 660,000sqm, slightly below the five-year historical

average for the same period. In more mature markets where rents are falling, some occupiers upgraded the quality of their office space, although it remained challenging for large users to secure big contiguous spaces.

Overall vacancy increased by 25 basis points to 10 per cent. Vacancy declined in 13 markets including Bangkok, was flat in two and rose in 11.

Vacancy for Grade A CBD offices in Bangkok dropped to 11.8 per cent, the lowest level recorded since the second quarter of 2008.

Vacancy in Asia remained steady at 9.8 per cent while Pacific markets saw vacancy rise significantly by 169 basis points to 10.1 per cent as sublease and backfill space came on to the market. The increase in vacant space was most evident in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Bangalore.

Around 1.28 million square metres of office space was completed, a figure similar to that recorded in the final quarter of last year. Construction delays in the Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, New Delhi and Mumbai markets led to a lower level of forecast completion from 6.04 million square metres to 5.2 million this year.


-- The Nation 2013-08-22

This is mumbo jumbo smoke and mirrors double talk and industry jargon which is meaningless to the everyday reader.

This is mumbo jumbo smoke and mirrors double talk and industry jargon which is meaningless to the everyday reader.

Yes and they forgotten to mention hidden illegal foreigner charging rip-off taxes that are not mentioned in the contracts or completely written in Thai in order to take advantage of the language barrier

Due to inflation/labor costs/cost of living/price of land, the cost is on the rise no doubt; and costs have skyrocketed. Look at condo., land & rental prices overall & they're climbing fast. Don't need this article meandering around the point to convince otherwise.. This article is a lot of hot air; grade a/cost of rents/ambiguous terms that avoid the facts/details.

Edited August 22, 201312 yr by gemini81

This is mumbo jumbo smoke and mirrors double talk and industry jargon which is meaningless to the everyday reader.

Yes and they forgotten to mention hidden illegal foreigner charging rip-off taxes that are not mentioned in the contracts or completely written in Thai in order to take advantage of the language barrier

Well, if you sign an agreement without translating it into your choice of language this is pretty much caveat emptor.

If Thailand didn't have it's ridiculous rules around visas and work permits, it would be up there with Singapore and Hong Kong as a location for regional headquarters because it's cheaper, and it's a location that expats don't mind being sent to.

As it stands - you can't send someone to an office here to work for a couple of weeks (that's not just meetings, but things like software installations etc.) without having to get a work permit / visa (no such issues for the US, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Singapore where the most you need is an ETA from a website). If you followed the rules to the letter, people on holiday in Thailand that log in and check their work email are breaking the law. While the rules are like that, big multinationals, that have to follow the rules regardless of how they're enforced, won't set up an Asia-wide administrative HQ here. (Any Bangkok "regional" offices for multi-nationals are for Thailand / Laos / Myanmar / Cambodia. Companies that have looked into setting up Asia-wide offices in Bangkok always end up going elsewhere after talking to immigration.)

Additionally, they have some odd rules about work permits for longer term staff (In Hong Kong / Japan / Singapore, where a person appears in the org chart is irrelevant when it comes to the issuing of a work permit - you just usually need a degree, and a big enough salary so that companies only hire from abroad when they have to, because there aren't enough locals with the required experience, (locals are usually cheaper)

Edited August 22, 201312 yr by bkk_mike

If Thailand didn't have it's ridiculous rules around visas and work permits, it would be up there with Singapore and Hong Kong as a location for regional headquarters because it's cheaper, and it's a location that expats don't mind being sent to.

As it stands - you can't send someone to an office here to work for a couple of weeks (that's not just meetings, but things like software installations etc.) without having to get a work permit / visa (no such issues for the US, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Singapore where the most you need is an ETA from a website). If you followed the rules to the letter, people on holiday in Thailand that log in and check their work email are breaking the law. While the rules are like that, big multinationals, that have to follow the rules regardless of how they're enforced, won't set up an Asia-wide administrative HQ here. (Any Bangkok "regional" offices for multi-nationals are for Thailand / Laos / Myanmar / Cambodia. Companies that have looked into setting up Asia-wide offices in Bangkok always end up going elsewhere after talking to immigration.)

Additionally, they have some odd rules about work permits for longer term staff (In Hong Kong / Japan / Singapore, where a person appears in the org chart is irrelevant when it comes to the issuing of a work permit - you just usually need a degree, and a big enough salary so that companies only hire from abroad when they have to, because there aren't enough locals with the required experience, (locals are usually cheaper)

Visa Tourism, Business , ONLY-Visa Tourism Business is Thailand's major source of RIPOFF income

If Thailand didn't have it's ridiculous rules around visas and work permits, it would be up there with Singapore and Hong Kong as a location for regional headquarters because it's cheaper, and it's a location that expats don't mind being sent to.

As it stands - you can't send someone to an office here to work for a couple of weeks (that's not just meetings, but things like software installations etc.) without having to get a work permit / visa (no such issues for the US, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Singapore where the most you need is an ETA from a website). If you followed the rules to the letter, people on holiday in Thailand that log in and check their work email are breaking the law. While the rules are like that, big multinationals, that have to follow the rules regardless of how they're enforced, won't set up an Asia-wide administrative HQ here. (Any Bangkok "regional" offices for multi-nationals are for Thailand / Laos / Myanmar / Cambodia. Companies that have looked into setting up Asia-wide offices in Bangkok always end up going elsewhere after talking to immigration.)

Additionally, they have some odd rules about work permits for longer term staff (In Hong Kong / Japan / Singapore, where a person appears in the org chart is irrelevant when it comes to the issuing of a work permit - you just usually need a degree, and a big enough salary so that companies only hire from abroad when they have to, because there aren't enough locals with the required experience, (locals are usually cheaper)

They end up heading for the door when Mr. Thai Big 20% shows up.