Based on its founding commitment “For All Well-being”, MQDC is eager to apply IWBI’s global expertise to ensure the health and well-being of its residents, said Keerin Chutumstid, president of Property & Service at MQDC.

“Since its founding, MQDC has worked to achieve the well-being of not only our residents, but also surrounding communities and all living beings,” he said. “We are therefore delighted to be working with IWBI, the first global rating system to focus exclusively on how buildings, and everything in them, can improve our comfort, drive better choices, and generally enhance, not compromise, our health and wellness.”

MQDC’s international portfolio of over 20 projects includes the award-winning True Digital Park “smart city” as well as national symbols such as the joint-venture Iconsiam megaproject on the bank of the Chao Phraya River.

MQDC supports the Research & Innovation for Sustainability Center (RISC), which works to raise sustainability and well-being across the property sector. RISC’s office in central Bangkok is the first in Thailand to be built to the Well Building Standard.

The standard was launched in 2014 after six years of research and development as the premier standard for buildings, interior spaces, and communities seeking to implement, validate, and measure features that support and advance human health and wellness.

The price of AP (Thailand) or AP rose 5.30 per cent to close at Bt6.95 as Supalai (SPALI) climbed 4.09 per cent to end at Bt17.80.

Ananda Development (ANAN) surged 3.52 per cent to close at Bt2.94. L.P.N. Development (LPN) gained 2.14 per cent to Bt4.78 at the close.

Share price of Pruksa Holdings (PSH) inched up 0.64 per cent to Bt15.70 as Origin Property (ORI) rose 1.42 per cent to close at Bt7.15.

SC Asset Corporation (SC) closed at Bt2.32, up 0.87 per cent from Monday’s.

Earlier today, the Cabinet had approved three newstimulus packages to prop up the softening economy.

The package for property aims to reduce home-purchase costs. The government will offer a cash-back of Bt50,000 per buyer on the down payment.

To be eligible, the buyer must have a monthly salary not exceeding Bt100,000 and included in the Revenue Department’s tax database of around 100,000 individuals under this category. The campaign will start tomorrow (November 27) and end on March 31, 2020.

Services on the platform range from asset management, replying to questions by project management, SMS notification for parcel delivery, fast notification for repair of assets or common facilities with real-time status monitoring, online payment of common facilities, deliveries of water and other bills, to facilitating contact with security, hospital and police station in an emergency, among others.

The new digital platform allows residents to manage their properties and connect to other services seamlessly, reinforcing the company’s vision to improve the quality of life for Thais with smart and connected technology. By the end of 2019, AP aims to have more than 70,000 users on Smart World.

“Our vision is to create a blueprint for good-quality life through the development of products, services and innovations,” said Vittakarn Chandavimol, Chief of Corporate Strategy and Creation, AP Thailand Group.

“Amazon Web Services and AP Thailand share a common goal to continuously innovate for our customers. We are delighted that AP selected AWS as its cloud provider, enabling the launch of this new customer service,” said Chawapol Jariyawiroj, Country Manager/Amazon Web Services (Thailand).

Vienna House (VH), the largest hotel group in Austria, is also eyeing investment opportunities in Asia.

Piyaporn Phanachet, Chief Executive Officer of U City, said that U City invested over Bt890 million in acquiring 19 hotels, of which 17 are in operation while two others are in the pipeline via its subsidiary, Vienna House Germany II GmbH.

This asset portfolio comprises boutique properties from the “arcona” hotel group and five hotels under the Steigenberger brand, of which 18 are located in Germany with one in Switzerland.

All properties will eventually be managed under the Vienna House brand. The new additions brings U City hotel portfolio to 57 hotels/9,210 keys, owned in form of both freehold and leasehold.

In addition, the group also manages third-party hotels under brands (Vienna House, Vienna House Easy, U, Eastin, and Travelodge), boosting the total number of hotels to 117, of which 78 are in operation.

The group aims to explore further business opportunities in Europe, especially business travel which dominates the overall travel market in the region, while also looking to embrace hotels with ununiformed elements that flare with their own unique characteristics, be it structures with historic façade, central location, or room designs.

Rupert Simoner, CEO of Vienna House, mentioned that the key reason Vienna House came down to this deal was because of the locations, the properties themselves, and the existing human capital.

“The German market, both inbound and outbound, is considered one of the most important markets for us. This is the first objective of our expansion apart from the properties’ structures and designs that can fit under the Vienna House brand. Moreover, the people working in these hotels have the spirit of what we look for” he said.

“The arcona hotels are very well maintained with relatively solid performance with a clear upside. So, what we’ll focus on sales as we expect to see 3 per cent growth in the first 18 months,” added Simoner.

Tapping into a niche “boutique lifestyle market,” the newly-branded Vienna House hotels will cater to the needs of both business travelers and leisure segment alike.

“The way we define luxury is probably different nowadays as we may no longer look at the stars rating but the trend of travellers seeking for service that is unique and practical. If you want to characterise our brand’s philosophy by one word, I’d say “individualistic,” explained Simoner.

In 2020, we will see the boutique Vienna House brand emerge across several locations in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland; namely Stuttgart, Wetzlar, Osnabruck, Munich, Bremen, Schaffhausen, Leipzig, Baden-Baden, Potsdam, Berlin, Stralsund, Rostock, Braunschweig, Wismar and Eisenach.

These properties will all be converted under Vienna House’s sub brands: Vienna House, Vienna House Easy, and Vienna Townhouse; by beginning 2020.

On an expansion outlook, Vienna House is prone to 7-9 per cent growth annually or organically up to five properties to be signed into the group per year.

“Asia is a fast-growing market and with our strong partner, U City, we now have offices throughout Asia. So, that’s where the groundbreaking is going to be when we will have one or two flagship development of Vienna House in an Asian metropolitan cities,” he added.

“As a shareholder, we are delighted to see the accomplishment of Vienna House, which will be only a starting point. Their fun, creative lifestyle hotels will be a good add-on to modern business and leisure travellers. We are keen to bring in synergies, where possible, and support the brands to grow even further.”, Piyaporn said.

U City is a property investor and developer with total assets of Bt53 billion as of the third quarter,2019.

“Despite a cautious economic climate and wider political headwinds, hotels in Asia Pacific present an attractive yield profile amid booming tourism demand, in the context of falling interest rates and bond yields,” said the consultancy’s chief executive Mike Batchelor.

“Much demand this year has been buoyed by private equity firms, developers and domestic clients. This leads us to believe that 2019 will be the third most highly-transacted year in the past decade. To date, only 2017 and 2015 have surpassed the $11 billion threshold.”

According to JLL, the first nine months of the year have already seen $7.8 billion worth of hotel investments in the region. Thanks to Japan and its series of mega events such as the 2019 Rugby World Cup, 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and 2025 World Expo, the country has reached close to $3 billion of transaction volumes so far.

“These tourism drivers will boost the need for accommodation assets, with investors looking to capitalise on the wave of demand. Japan is the region’s top performing market and forecast to hit a record high of US$4 billion in transaction volumes this year,” adds Mr Batchelor.

Across the region, the hotel market outlook remains positive. Over in China, softening office leasing demand and sluggish retail sales have turned investors’ attention towards hotels, where trading performance has been resilient.

Elsewhere, Singapore has seen a few landmark deals this year. In September, JLL advised OUE Limited in an agreement to sell Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore to a Hong Kong joint venture for $209 million. Most recently, JLL concluded the US$344 million agreement to sell Andaz Singapore in the largest single-hotel asset transaction ever in the island city’s history.

The JLL report reveals that while domestic investors have been active in their home markets, particularly in Japan and China, there remains an influx of foreign investment looking to tap into the region’s strong tourism growth and high yields.

South Korea, for instance, has seen a spike in international investor interest this year. Overseas investors are gaining increasing access in a tightly-held market as more institutional investors look to exit their investments after the pre-specified hold periods.

“Up until 2015, transactions in South Korea were almost purely domestic, but today cross-border deals make up about a quarter of total transactions. As the market matures further, we can expect foreign investors to make up a larger proportion of trading volumes,” noted Nihat Ercan, managing director and head of Investment Sales Asia for JLL Hotels & Hospitality.

Another recipient of continued foreign capital is the Maldives. Its reputation as a sought-after tourist destination has attracted more than $260 million in cross-border deals alone this year.

“As both overseas and domestic investors seek out higher yielding opportunities across Asia Pacific, the hospitality sector will continue to shine,” Ercan said. “We’re confident that this investment momentum will continue to drive the region’s hotel transaction volumes going into 2020.”

Also, the Government Housing Bank will offer loans for the purchase of real estate with a total limit of Bt50 billion. The interest will be stable at 2.5 per cent in the first three years, will rise to 4.625 per cent between the fourth and fifth years, and will have to be repaid with up to 1 per cent of Minimum Retail Rate (MRR) for people with welfare or 0.75 per cent for retailers, which will be 6.625 per cent a year from December 24, 2020.

Sopon Pornchokchai, president of the Agency for Real Estate Affairs, who are independent property consultants, said the measures had their pluses and minuses. The good news was that the measure allowed customers to repay at a lower rate and the bad news is it might be a trap for real estate buyers because even though the measure seemed to help people with low or average incomes trying to buy affordable houses, it actually supported land developers as it only allows customers to buy houses from developers, not second-hand houses.

He said the Bt50-billion loan limit might cover only 1.7 per cent of the total value of new property and might not be as effective as expected. In the first three years, even though the interest was low, the customers did not repay the principal amount and in the sixth year, the bank can adjust the MRR to any rate which could be higher helping the bank to collect more fees.

Lowering the transfer and mortgage fees may encourage people to buy houses but may also cause loss of revenue in a developing country. “We need to raise awareness of the importance of paying taxes for buying houses at the full price and 1.5 per cent interest, which would allow the government to have a higher capital budget,” said Sopon.

he survey said 71 projects were launched in the Bangkok area with the 29,132 condo units worth Bt170 billion, 16,008 units or 35.5 per cent lesser than in the previous year.

The survey found that many of the condominiums launched in the first half of this year were purchased by foreigners, especially the Chinese.

“The district where most of the companies launched their projects was Huai Khwang, with 3,247 condo units,” said the company. “In this area, the Chinese investors focused on buying projects in CBD areas such as locations along the Rama IX to Ratchadaphisek roads”.

Regarding the areas around along the mass transit railway line, the survey found that 12,426 units or 42.65 per cent were developed along the BTS line in the first nine months of the year, while condominium units along the MRT line were 6,407, or 22 per cent. About 10,300 units, or 35.5 per cent, were in the areas of under-construction railway lines and other areas.

In addition, when looking closely at the stations of both the BTS and MRT lines, most of the condominium projects were launched around the Talat Phlu station — 2,872 units — with Bt9.242 billion investment value. The other station where most of the projects were crowded were around Punnawithi, with 1,555 condominium units worth Bt12.496 billion investment value, and the third station was Ratchathewi, with 1,417 units and investment value of Bt17.200.

“Over 65 per cent of the projects developed were by big property entrepreneurs listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand as the land price around the BTS and MRT stations rose steeply,” the company explained, adding that this caused “small and medium-sized entrepreneurs to recede from this expensive competition to invest in cheaper areas or areas along the new railway stations that are under construction”.

At the end of the third quarter of 2019, 95.7 per cent of the total 8,387,207 square meters of office space was occupied, leaving just 377,692 sqm available for rent.

“Lumphini is the area with the highest utilisation rate at 96.5 per cent,” said Phattarachai Taweewong, Collier’s associate director of research. “The average rental price in this area increased more than 6 per cent over the previous quarter due to its amenities, namely shopping malls, parks, hotels, transportation including BTS and MRT, and also its security.”

Rentals continue to increase in all parts of Lumphini with top-grade office buildings in the central business area particularly popular. “These increases in price will possibly affect the average rent of new office buildings that are nearing completion,” Phattarachai added. “Some companies plan to increase their rate to more than Bt1,600 per square metre per month.”

“Moreover, in the third quarter of this year, we found that the rental price of the top grade office buildings in the central business area ranged between Bt1,500 and Bt1,600 per square metre, the highest rental rate for office space in Bangkok” said the associate director. “It is a trend that we foresee will continue.”

Piya Prayong, Chief Executive Officer of Pruksa Real Estate told Thansettakij newspaper that the eastern part of Bangkok is now the red ocean of land developers.

It is also the company’s golden area as 40 per cent of its horizontal project portfolio is concentrated in this zone.

The company has around 100 rai of land in the Krungthep Kritha-Wongwaen area, where it developed two projects and will launch another two residential development.

Chainid Adhyanasakul, chief executive officer of Property Perfect, said that the new Krunthep Kreetha road is considered a strategic transportation location linking Suvarnabhumi Airport with central Bangkok. It is also not far from the motorway and Airport Rail Link which will be connected with the Orange Line mass transit route running from the Thailand Cultural Centre to Minburi on the outskirts of the city.

The three companies on Thursday (October 3) announced they had signed an investor agreement for Centara Grand Hotel Osaka, an upper upscale property with 515 keys that will occupy a gleaming 34-storey tower on a prime site in Osaka’s Namba district, the centre of leisure tourism for the city and the wider Kansai region. Centara’s first property in Japan is scheduled to open in mid 2023.

From left: Masahiro Takagi, Executive Officer and General Manager of Development Promotion Department, Kanden Realty & Development Co.,Ltd.; Munetaka Isoda, Director and Managing Executive Officer, Kanden Realty & Development Co.,Ltd.; Akehiko Tomita, Deputy Chief of Urban Development Division, Taisei Corporation; Katsuyuki Kanai, Senior Managing Executive Officer, Taisei Corporation; Suthikiati Chirathivat, Chairman of the Board, Centara Hotels & Resorts; Thirayuth Chirathivat, Chief Executive Officer, Centara Hotels & Resorts and Ronnachit Mahattanapreut, Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration, Centara Hotels & Resorts.

The investment partnership between Centara Hotels & Resorts, Taisei Corporation and Kanden Realty & Development marks Centara’s entry into one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations.

Osaka is a key gateway city and Japan’s third largest city, with a population of 2.7 million. Additionally, it is one of the leading Japanese destinations for international visitors, second only to Tokyo, and is considered the cultural heart of the nation. Along with popular attractions such as Universal Studios Japan and the city’s proximity to Kyoto, Kobe and Nara, Osaka is expected to see a further boost in tourism when the city hosts the World Expo in 2025.

“Extending the Centara footprint to Japan has been a long-term strategic objective for the company, and this is a major milestone for the Centara brand as we have successfully added the 14th country to our portfolio,” said Thirayuth Chirathivat, Centara’s CEO. “This an exciting opportunity to partner with Taisei and Kanden Realty & Development, whose outstanding track records have earned leading positions in construction and property development. We are looking forward to making Centara’s debut and ongoing development in other Japanese cities a great success.”

Katsuyuki Kanai, the senior managing executive officer for Taisei Corporation, said, “This project is in Namba, an important and bustling district of Osaka and a place of international exchange. It is directly connected to Kansai International airport, making it one Japan’s major gateway cities to the world. It is really a significant milestone both to Japan and to Taisei that Centara, representing Thailand in tourism and hospitality, has embarked on this venture in Namba, the perfect location in Japan for the development of an upper upscale hotel.”

Munetaka Isoda, the managing executive officer for Kanden Realty & Development, said, “As a major property development company based in Osaka, we are honoured to play an important role in this joint investment project to develop Centara Grand Hotel Osaka with such a significant and established Thai partner, Centara Hotels & Resorts, and with Taisei Corporation, which has a long and proven record of success. We are committed to working with you in making every effort to ensure the success of this project and we wish you all a very warm welcome to Osaka.”

The newly built hotel will occupy a stunning new 34-storey tower overlooking Namba Parks, with 360-degree views of the city, according to the release. The top floors will include a lounge along with customisable space for meetings and events, plus a rooftop restaurant sky bar providing panoramic views in every direction.

Facilities will include award winning Spa Cenvaree, a fully equipped fitness centre, a diverse selection of restaurants and banquet facilities. The hotel’s spacious lobby will welcome guests with touches of Thai and Japanese style and ambience.

The hotel location puts guests at the doorstep of some of Osaka’s leading entertainment, shopping and cultural attractions, popular with visitors and locals alike. A few steps away is Namba Parks, an architectural marvel and the city’s most distinctive mall, complete with a massive rooftop garden with cliffs, ponds, streams and waterfalls, making it a must-see for tourists. The Namba area, also known as Minami, is home to countless restaurants and bars, shopping venues, an electronics district, as well as one of Osaka’s most revered Shinto shrines.

Centara sees the addition of its first property in Japan as further proof of its expansion strategy, which calls for doubling the number of properties under its management by 2022.