This is because of the huge increase in demand driven by the growth of e-commerce.

E-commerce retailers need very high specification warehouses to use as fulfilment centres but developers around the world , are struggling to keep up with demand because e-commerce has been growing rapidly.

 James Pitchon, Executive Director at CBRE Thailand, said that e-commerce is just taking off in Thailand, currently accounting for only a small percentage of retail sales, but Thai e-commerce is expected to rise rapidly and should reach the levels of more advanced markets where it accounts for 15-18 per cent of total retail sales.

Based on research by David Egan, Global Head of Industrial and Logistics Research at CBRE, on the relationship between online sales and demand for modern logistics property in the USA, CBRE estimate that, using a similar ratio to the US market, every Bt1 billion of online sales in Thailand will generate 4,000 square metres of demand for e-commerce logistics space.

Adam Bell, Head of the Industrial and Logistics team at CBRE Thailand, believes that 2019 will be the year that demand for modern logistics space in Thailand, especially Bangkok, really takes off.

Spurring this growth is the debut of six co-working centres in Melbourne, Sydney and Seoul, while increasing its presence in existing cities like Singapore, Shanghai, Jakarta and Bangkok where JustCo will open its third location at Samyan Mitrtown by Golden Land Property Development Plc in the fourth quarter of this year. In its first venture beyond Asia, JustCo will open four co-working centres in Sydney and Melbourne.

By mid-year 2019, JustCo would have secured or opened nine new Central Business District locations across the region, expanding its portfolio to 29 centres in the Asia Pacific.

This series of consecutive launches speak volumes of the increasing demand for shared workspaces and the gap in the market, according to the company’s release yesterday.

The research said that Japan is expected to be one of the most active markets in 2019, with investor sentiment driven by the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Investment momentum will continue to rise as investors explore selling hotel assets to capitalise on the tourism boom.

Singapore is currently riding the wave of a boom in hotel land sales, which has reignited the interest of wouldbe sellers who are considering to sell their hotel properties. In a tightly held market such as Singapore, we expect to see heightened sales activity as owners exit at record prices and newcomers seek long-term strategic opportunities.

With sustained demand in international visitor arrivals, robust trading performance, continued infrastructure development and political stability, Bangkok, as well as its key resort markets of Phuket and Koh Samui will remain highly soughtafter by investors.

It would be another year of strong cross-border transactions activity for Australia, particularly in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, which will remain firmly on the radar of the Asian buyers.

Lastly, we see Maldives taking the centrestage in the Indian Ocean as new capital sources enter the market in search of higher-yield opportunities as we witness several landmark sales likely to conclude during the course of the year.

The top three hotel trends in 2019 are:

Experience economy reaches the luxury sector: Modernday luxury consumers are increasingly seeking out experiences, placing less emphasis on acquiring material goods. Hotel markets are seeing strong demand for highend experiential luxury travel.

Hotels embracing coworking: There has been a strong demand for communal workspace as companies increasingly offer flexible working policies. Hotel operators are maximising real estate and boosting revenue by creatively repurposing existing, under-utilised spaces.

New brands a beacon for growth: With operating costs for fullservice hotels continuing to inch up, and development costs for those hotels with vast facilities dampening investment returns in many markets, we expect to see top companies launching new brands, focusing on development effort on their select brands to drive distribution.

Meanwhile, the latest research by Collier International says that the travel industry looks set to close the year on a high note, thanks in part to the insatiable wanderlust and bounce-back in corporate demand. Tourism arrivals to the Asia Pacific region are expected to grow by 6 per cent year on year in 2018, continuing a steady period of growth witnessed since 2010, as the middle-income population continues to soar across the region.

The growth momentum is expected to spill over into 2019, rising at a pace of circa 4.5 per cent with tourism arrivals in the region reaching record levels. Growth continues to be mainly driven by China and India with the latter set to expand as its gross domestic product per capita improves along with its robust economic growth.

Revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth in the region is closely correlated to that of economic performance in Emerging and Developing Asia. This highlights the importance of intraregional and domestic tourism to destinations, the latter of which is sometimes overlooked.

According to STR, RevPAR (in US dollar terms) across Asia Pacific improved by a robust 5.7 per cent year to date August 2018, with China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam being the main drivers. Myanmar and Taiwan were the worst performing markets.

“Property is the largest sector, using ever-more raw construction materials and producing more construction waste,” Assoc Professor Dr Singh Intrachooto, head of the Creative Centre for Eco-design in the Architecture Faculty of Kasetsart University, said.

“But they cannot manage the waste on their own under the country’s Waste Management Act,” Singh said in a recent interview with The Nation. “If the new government revises the act, it would help property firms manage their construction waste and move to a nearly zero-waste industry.”

The property sector is also among the largest industrial users of energy, from both the construction process and after the buildings are completed and handed over to their customers.

He said the government should also revise the act to provide additional incentives for property firms to develop more energy-efficient residential and commercial buildings, including through installing solar rooftops and designing building that have lower environmental impacts and are healthier for people to live in.

This would improve the health of the property sector while also ensuring a better environment and healthier residents, he said.

“We hope the new government will [create conditions] that ensure the country’s property sector is among the healthiest industrial sectors and achieves zero waste,” he said.

“This would drive the industry toward sustainable growth and provide a global model for improving this industry,” Singh added.

“We will ask the new administration to review the loan-to-value measure, effective on April 1, as it will negatively impact the property sector nationwide,” Pruksa Holding Plc’s chief executive officer, Thongma Vijitpongpun, said in an interview with The Nation.

“The measure would make it harder for low-income people planning the purchase of a new property unit, as they may not be able to settle the 10 per cent down payment,” he said.

Under the BOT directive, banks are restricted on the loan amounts they could extend to homebuyers: up to 90 per cent of the value of a new property, 80 per cent for the purchase of a second home and 70 per cent for a third home.

Meanwhile, commercial banks have continued to restrict approvals of mortgages to lower-income people seeking to buy their own places.

LPN Development Plc chief executive officer and managing director Opas Sripayak agreed with Thongma of Pruksa Holding. The new government should relax the measure to provide low-income homebuyers with loans equivalent to 100 per cent of the new property’s value, he said.

“The new government should make it a policy to facilitate home ownership for low-income people through easier access to mortgages with special interest rates,” Opas said.

Currently, most low-income |people face difficulties in securing a mortgage loan regardless of |their ability to repay, mainly due to their failure to produce a sound financial statement to accompany their applications to commercial banks.

“For instance, if a low-income person wishes to own a residential unit priced at Bt500,000, he/she would first have to settle the 10 per cent down payment and other expenses such as the transfer charge and mortgage fee. This means |the applicant must come up |with Bt80,000 up front for |the mortgage loan to be considered,” he said, adding that it is difficult |for them to save up for the down payment.

“Though most low-income people may not be able to afford the down payment on a new property, they can meet the monthly instalment. Most have financial discipline and they all want to keep their homes,” Opas explained.

With his experience in helping low-income customers buy LPN Development’s condominium units, Opas said the company could help them prepare a financial statement for the down payment as required in the application process for a mortgage loan from commercial banks.

“In my view, the new government should ease the loan-to-value measure to support low-income homebuyers,” Opas added.

Prasert Taedullayasatit, honorary chairman of Thai Condominium Association, said maintaining interest rates for the duration of the mortgage loan is another issue that the new government must deal with.

A 1-per-cent increase in interest rate will raise the monthly instalment by Bt800 on a mortgage loan of Bt1 million, he noted.

“The priority of the new government [should be] to assist low-income people acquire homes, by revising the loan-to-value measure and lowering the interest rate,” Prasert said.

Land and Building Act

Speeding up the launch of an organic law for the Land and Building Act, effective since March 12, is also an urgent issue for the next administration, said Issara Boonyoung, honorary chairman of the Business Housing Association.

He said the new Land and Building Act lacks clarity in the area of tax payable on a residential unit put up for rent. It is unclear whether the calculation comes under the residential or commercial definitions – which have different tax rates.

Under the residential definition, a 0.02 per cent tax is imposed on a property for rent, compared to 0.3 per cent of the property’s value under the commercial definition.

For instance, a unit valued at Bt10 million will be subject to Bt2,000 in annual tax under the residential definition, but will surge to Bt30,000 if the property is defined as a commercial building.

“There is a big difference in rates and payments,” said Issara, who is also the chief executive officer of Kanda Group.

Meanwhile, residential units in the inventory of property firms are also undefined, causing management problems and higher expenses. Developers may have to pass on the extra cost under the new act to their customers through price increases.

“I hope the new government will hasten the passing of an organic law to give clarity to the Land and Building Act,” he said.