For the first half, the presales came in at Bt10.91 billion, the developer’s chief financial officer, Chaiyuth Chunnahacha, said on Thursday.

Although the company had a successful second quarter, it is reviewing the prospects for business in the rest of this year amid an uncertain outlook in the face of a slowing economy, Chaiyuth said. The company also has to contend with the effects of a reduction in the loan-to-valuation ratio requirement for prospective home buyers. With these pressures, the company is revising its project launch schedule for the remainder of 2019, Chaiyuth said.

Early this year, the company said it planned to launch 10 residential projects worth Bt38 billion in 2019. However, the company launched just three projects in the first half of this year.

Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction (STEC) is confident its total revenue will achieve the target of between Bt30 billion and Bt32 billion by the end of this year, up 14 per cent from last year. It is currently contracted for and construction is already underway on a project worth Bt100 million, which will boost revenue through 2021, the company’s president Pakpoom Srichamni said recently.

The company has also applied to join bids worth up to Bt80 billion in this year with a view to increasing its workload and generating further income. This does not include the joint venture bid with partners for the U-Tapao Port and Motorway.

Meanwhile, the Stock Exchange of Thailand reported STEC’s big-lot sale on Tuesday of 68.97 million shares at Bt26 per share worth Bt1.793 billion in total. In this regard, Anutin Charnvirakul, head of Bhumjai Thai, confirmed he had sold the big lot on Tuesday to a family member as he prepares to take up a ministerial post in the new government.

Ch Karnchang Plc also expects its total revenue to reach Bt30 billion this year based on a construction project in hand worth Bt94.62 billion. The company also will join bids for new infrastructure projects worth more than Bt200 billion this year and expects the new government to open bidding this year, the company’s chief executive officer Supamas Trivisvavet said recently.

She added that the company has maintained total revenue at almost the same level of Bt31.17 billion as last year. Most of its current projects are under construction, with some to be completed in the next year.

Meanwhile, Nawarat Patanakarn Plc has revised down its revenue projections for the year, from early growth estimates of between 30 per cent and 50 per cent and total revenue of Bt10.03 billion in light of both delays in bidding for new infrastructure projects as well as to residential projects affected by the Bank of Thailand’s loan-to-value regulation that come into effect on April 1, This has directly affected its portfolio, senior vice president of the new business & strategic planning department Pasan Swasdiburi said recently.

Presales for the first six months of 2019 represented 20-per-cent growth over the same period last year, Vittakarn Chandavimol, AP (Thailand)’s Chief Corporate Strategy and Creation, said.

The company has plans to stay active in the market for both low-rise and high-rise developments and remains committed to meeting homebuyer’s needs and enhancing quality of life. A total of 23 new projects worth Bt27.265 billion are being planned and will cover the needs of customers in all market segments. Twelve of these are townhomes worth Bt9.25 billion, 10 are single detached houses worth Bt11.715 billion and the other is a condominium project worth B 6.3 billion.

The highlight will be the launch of a new brand called The Sonne Srinakarin – Bangna to fill a gap in the luxury portfolio as well as the return of condominiums under the brand Life Sathorn Sierra, which is tipped to be Thailand’s first model for the development of condominiums in tandem with drawing a blue print for sustainable living.

The firm is confident of closing 2019 meeting its projected presales, he said.

“Despite the many factors that shaped the real estate industry in the first half of the year such as the slowdown in the world economy or the domestic control measures that affected the business atmosphere, we believe there is still a demand from customers looking for a residence. It is just that demand is more specific. This means that the location, the house model and the price package must be absolutely right to warrant a buying decision,” he said.

“For the real estate industry in the second half of the year, we believe that every developer is remaining alert and watching the situation closely. The main factor that will stimulate public confidence and buying and selling is clarity in the political situation. In particular, we will see a clearer future after the new government and its economic team is formed. The industry is expected to benefit from the new government’s economic stimulus plan which should help get national economic growth back on track again,” Vittakarn said.

As at June 30, the company had a backlog valued at Bt57.31 billion, of which low-rise developments account for Bt10.13 billion. All are expected to be realized within this year. Condominiums (joint ventures included), account for Bt47.18 billion, Bt5.65 billion of them AP-wholly owned projects and Bt2.604 billion of them will be realised this year, Of the Bt42.53 billion worth of joint venture projects, Bt5.505 billion will be realised this year and remainder through to 2023.

In summary, the company has 40 new projects worth around Bt58.05 billion.

Anticipated presales during the second quarter dropped after most homebuyers decided to delay purchasing residences and commercial banks rejected applications for mortgages under the new loan-to-value measure, which requires a 10-per-cent down payment on a first home.

A survey conducted by The Nation shows that most listed property firms will continue to launch their new residential projects in the second half of this year in the belief that consumer confidence will recover when the country has a new government later this month.

For example, Origin Property plans to launch six new residential projects worth Bt8.1 billion in the third quarter of this year, as it drives towards its goal of presales totalling Bt28 billion by year’s end. This follows the company’s total presales worth Bt7.29 billion in the second quarter of this year, boosting its total recorded presales to Bt13 billion for the first half of 2019.

AP (Thailand) plans to launch 23 new residential projects worth Bt27.26 billion, 22 of them single detached house and townhouse projects and the other a condominium project worth Bt6.3 billion. This is to boost its total presales to Bt41.8 billion by the end of this year. For other planned developments, see graphic.

“We are continuing to launch our new residential projects and are focusing on the middle market, who still have the purchasing power to buy residential properties in the price range of Bt2 million and Bt5 million,” Origin Property Plc’s chief executive officer Peerapong Charoon-Ek said recently.

However, some property firms are concerned about the market sentiment and have put off launching their new residential projects for the rest of this year.

For example, Ananda Development, is considering a downward revision of its residential launches for the remainder of 2019 in light of the drop in demand from both domestic and foreign investors.

“We initially planned to introduce 10 new residential projects in this year worth more than Bt20 billion. During the first half of this year, we launched two new projects according to our plan, but we are considering putting some of the further eight projects on hold,” the company’s chief financial officer Chaiyuth Chunnahacha said recently.

Earlier, the company targeted presales of Bt36 billion and a transfer of properties worth Bt36 billion by the end of this year, up 14 per cent and 9 per cent respectively from the same period last year.

Now the company may revise its presales and transfer value as the demand to buy residential properties has continued to drop since the new measure to reduce loan-to-value became effective on April 1, 2019, he said.

LPN Development Plc is also thinking of revising its business plan.

“We are considering what we will do now that the demand to buy residences has dropped and up to 50 per cent of our customers have been turned down for mortgages by the commercial banks following the Bank of Thailand’s restrictions on approving loans under the new loan-to-value rule,” said LPN Development Plc’s chief executive officer and managing director Opas Sripayak.

According to the latest survey by property agency firm Collier International Thailand, a total of 26 new condominium projects with 9,632 units worth Bt74.87 billion were launched in the second quarter of this year, with 38 per cent of total already sold. This is lower than for the same period during the period 2017 to 2018, which recorded sales of 57 per cent and 65 per cent from total new residential projects launched.

“The demand to buy residential properties in the second quarter of this year dropped after the new loan-to-value rule came into effect,” Collier International Thailand’s associate director of the research department Pattarachai Preechapanich confirmed.

He forecast that the property market would face tough times for the rest of this year as homebuyers continued to be concerned about the country’s economy and the loan to value rule continued to bite.

He added that the bank will also start to provide loans to developers building residential properties to be sold at less than Bt1 million per unit as part of the campaign “One Million Residences for People Nationwide”.

“We have already approved a project loan worth Bt100 million to Esarn Piman Group in Khon Kaen province for the development of a residential project with units priced not over Bt1 million,” he said.

To date, the bank has approved loans worth Bt5.47 billion under the campaign, which will benefit 7,790 customers around the country.

The bank has additionally approved loans worth Bt70.7 billion in the first six months of this year but notes that up to 60 per cent of its customers are still unable to receive loans under the Bank of Thailand’s ruling.

“We believe that when the Bank of Thailand relaxes the rule for our customers, we will be able speed up the process of approving mortgages for state agency staff and this will allow us to achieve our mortgage target to Bt203 billion,” he said.

“We have seen a strong demand in this location. Our 11 condominium projects worth in total Bt27 billion in the Thonburi district have sold quickly and we are confident that this project will also be snapped up when we open bookings on July 20-21,” the company’s managing director Tritecha Tangmatitham said on Tuesday.

The 22-storey building has 726 units for sale divided into studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units with utilization space of between 29.5 square metres and 74.5sqm.

The project is slated for completion in 2021.