Raimon Land will take a 51 per cent stake in the new compnay with the Japanese partner holding the balance of 49 per cent, said  chief financial officer Sataporn Amornvorapak at the signing yesterday.

CBRE Research expects to see further expansion by active wear retailers and fitness studios in Asia Pacific and the emergence of new players. Particularly, specialised programmes and boutique operators will be ideally positioned to capitalise on strong demand for consumption and lifestyle fitness in emerging Asia.

Higher rates of participation in sports and fitness, and generally active lifestyles, is driving strong demand for sports and active apparel. Consumers are increasingly demanding products that are both practical for exercise and fashionable leading to the development of what is becoming known as “athleisure” wear. Examples include yoga pants, “jeggings”, and fashionable sweat shirts that can be worn for both exercise and on social occasions. According to CBRE Research, sales figures reported by four major active wear companies show that sales in Asia Pacific has grown faster in past few years. In 2014, growth was around 5 per cent , but shot up to 16 per cent by 2016. According to another report from Ken Research, athletic wear is expected to grow at around 16 per cent through 2019. The growth in personal health and fitness has been so great that traditional clothing brands and some luxury brands have even begun developing an active wear category or created subsidiary brands to sell their activewear line of clothes and gear.

As e-commerce channels become the new norm for consumers, retail outlets must evolve to remain meaningful in the buying process. Once merely places to see and buy products, stores are being repositioned as locations where consumers can properly trial the products they are considering and learn about the full range of goods offered. For example, some sports stores, such as Adidas in Mega Bangna, have installed treadmills in their stores to allow customers to try running with the shoes they are considering buying. Personal customisation is also expected to grow and will be a key advantage of having a physical presence in an omni-channel retail solution.

As for fitness centres, demand for space has traditionally been led by large occupiers, but recent years have seen the growth of specialised and boutique fitness gyms. These are gyms that cater towards specific types of fitness training such as the CrossFit training, Muay Thai, Pilates, yoga, and dancing studios, among others, have been growing in numbers. The benefit is that they do not require as much space as a traditional fully fitted, multi-purpose gyms which means they can be built into more traditional retail spaces.

Not only are we seeing boutique operator growth, we are also seeing a growing number of international fitness chains entering the Thai market for the first time such as Anytime Fitness, Jetts 24 Hour Fitness, and Virgin Active; which points to the higher interest in health and fitness from the Thai population.

As landlords of retail centres continue to shift their locations to become more experiential, many are embracing the health and wellness trend as part of an overall focus of positioning shopping centres as community hubs in their placemaking efforts. Some landlords are beginning to introduce “active zones” for customers to enjoy such as running/speed walking tracks, biking zones, or skating areas as part of their own active-lifestyle placemaking efforts. We have seen this trend in mixed-use projects such as Whizdom 101, among others. Other innovations include co-wellness space, which allows freelance fitness instructors to rent space and host pop-up classes in a fully equipped studio where followers can reserve classes online. This model helps improve space utilisation and flexibility for both the landlord and instructor.

Health and wellness has been and is expected to continue be grow in Thailand. Fitness wear companies will continue to enjoy growing demand; however, they will have to adapt their retail store strategies as omnichannel buyers will look to physical stores to experience the product rather than just purchase it there.

The millennial shift towards engaging in fitness is evidenced further by the number of specialised sports studios and international fitness chains opening branches in Thailand, a market they had previously not entered.

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.