Demand hails from business people in Pratunam district, investors and students, as well as the ever-growing population within Bangkok. Responsive demand is 80-90 per cent for new projects, which is higher than the average 66 per cent response rate for central business district (CBD) area and other middle areas in Bangkok.

Plus Property managing director Anukul Ratpitaksanti disclosed that the Phaya Thai and Ratchathewi areas are attractive locations in the centre of Bangkok, according to surveys by Plus Property. The area has high potential approaching that of locations in Bangkok’s inner area. It also has shopping centres such as Siam Square and Siam Paragon, and famed institutions including Triam Udom Suksa School and Chulalongkorn University.

This differentiates the Phaya Thai-Ratchathewi area from others within Bangkok’s middle areas and make it comparable to a CBD area. As a result, development of residential projects such as apartments, hotels, hostels and co-working spaces have increased.

At the same time, condominium projects have been tailoring to the demand of business owners in the Pratunam area, investors, and parents of students. It has been determined that Bangkok is the province that possesses the highest number of non-registered population.

Over the past 30 years, non-registered population grew by about 50 per cent . In 2016, there were some 240,000 people from other provinces who were in Bangkok to study. Meanwhile, there was not much supply of new condominium units entering the market between 2013 and 2017. It is expected that condominiums in this area will become a rarity in the future, because of limited space for development , especially for projects near BTS stations.

Responsive demand is high for new projects in the Phaya Thai-Rachathewi area – at 80-90 per cent on average. This is higher than the average sale figure of 66 per cent for new projects in CBD area and middle zone.

The most recent survey discovered there were only 300 unsold units in 2018. If no new supply opens up, units in this area are expected to be completely sold out within one month.

There was good response for both new and old supply of units in the latter part of 2017, during which the response rate was 72 per cent and the absorption rate was about 30 units per month per project. Because of limited new supply, there is demand from investors as well as real residents for units in this area.

Consequently, the rate of return on investment is currently very attractive. High-rise projects situated near BTS stations or main road have a resale value of approximately Bt200,000 per square metre – which equates to a 7 per cent per annum price growth since each project’s launch. Return on rent stands at about 5 per cent per annum, and rent stands at around Bt20,000-25,000 per month for a one-bedroom unit with 30-35 square metres of space. For low-rise projects, the resale price had grown by about 4 per per year whereas return from rent was about 4.5 per cent per year.

“Development of new projects is expected to be limited in this area, and almost no launch of new projects took place in 2017. Therefore, condominium prices in the Phaya Thai-Ratchathewi area are expected to rise at a rate which rivals that in CBD.

At present, we are starting to see investments by large players into the development of big projects such as shopping malls, office towers, mixed-use buildings and hotels. This will, in turn, increase the area’s potential even further. Also, the area caters to a lifestyle that makes use of convenient commuting links to all the other important areas of Bangkok. All things considered, the price of condominium units in this area is expected to be able to grow |much more in the future”, said Anukul.

Some 14,600 units were added to the market in the capital for the quarter, with Surachet’s research showing that up to 66 per cent of the condominium launches are near mass transit systems. This was especially evident in the area from Rama 9 Road to Hua Khwang, which saw 4,400 units released over the three months, he said. Up to 55 per cent of the units released in the period were sold, Surachet added.

Meanwhile, listed property companies have said their presales in the first quarter came in better than the numbers for the same period of last year. AP (Thailand) booked presales of Bt10 billion for the quarter, up 168 per cent from the same period of last year. Of this take, up to 64 per cent – or Bt5.2 billion – came from low-rise residential projects, with Bt4.8 billion from condominium projects.

The company has reached 30 per cent of its projected presales target of Bt33.5 billion for the year, the company’s chief executive officer Anuphong Assavabhokhin said recently.

Anuphong said the property market’s improved performance in the first quarter of this year stems from a number of positive factors, including a stronger economy, increased investment by the public sector and the low-interest rate environment.

“We believe there is plenty of purchasing power for the property industry, especially in the high-end segment where buying power is high and not much affected by the state of the economy,” he said. “This is clearly evident in the growth of our presales during the first quarter. In particular, low-rise developments have performed better, reflecting a significant change in the market.”

For the second quarter, industry competition is expected to become more intense, given the greater number of new projects slated to roll out in the period. Supply that targets consumers in the middle-to-high-end segment would continue to be well received, Anuphong said.

In 2018, the company plans to launch 34 projects worth Bt49 billion, of which four are condominium projects worth Bt19 billion and 30 are low-rise developments worth Bt30 billion.

Property Perfect Plc recorded presales of Bt4.8 billion in the first quarter, up 126 per cent from the same period of last year. Some Bt3 billion came from low-rise housing such as detached houses and townhouses, and bt1.8 billion from condominium projects, managing director Wongsakorn Prasitvipat said recently.

The company plans to open five residential projects worth Bt2.8 billion in the second quarter, three of which are single-detached house and townhouse projects worth Bt1.8 billion, Wongsakorn said. The others are condominiums worth Bt1 billion.

Chula-Home Dot Tech will start providing services to the e-market in the first haft of this year.

Supot Teachavorasinskun, dean of the engineering faculty at Chulalongkorn University, said Chula-Home Dot Tech is a one-stop property application that utilises machine learning, virtual reality, data science and Big Data to serve both home-seekers and property developers. It will available in the first haft of this year under the Home Hop application.

The application will provide features such as Home Hop, Home Event, Home Dashboard and Home Social listening.

For Home Hop, the feature is designed for home searching “in line with lifestyle and personal-based requirements, enabling customers able to get a better result”, Supot said.

Home Event is a tool designed for home fairs and to help the marketing communications of property developers.

“Customers wanting to participate in the home event can register online and get information and activities in real time via online channels such as an e-brochure,” Supot said.

“Home Dashboard is a marketing tool for the property project. The features allow customers to communicate directly with property developers via online channels.

“I think that the application will be able to support the demands and behaviour of customers in the digital era. Meanwhile, property developers will be able to develop their projects to support the lifestyles and demands of customers.”

Supot said the Home Hop application will meet the demands of customers in digital era.

“Meanwhile, the university will provide technology and innovation to support the private sector so that professors from university will be able to develop information, technology and innovation to support the private sector and transfer research and development from the shelf to the commercial market.”

Borisut Kasinpila, managing director of Home Buyers Guide, a real estate business media operator of 25 years, said that under the collaboration, the firm will list more than 6,000 properties for a project database that will help buyers search for a new home.

The service allows customisation for users’ personalities and lifestyle preferences.

“We have collected real estate information for database purposes for 25 years,” Borisut said. “We saw an opportunity to apply that information, knowledge and experience to new possibilities with data science and machine learning.

“Such innovation will help property developers to plan their investments for maximum efficiency. For customers, it will be easier for them to look for their homes and condominiums with the benefit of more accurate information.”