Developers saw strong nine-month growth as new mortgage rules loom 

According to financial results for the first nine months as reported yesterday to the Stock Exchange of Thailand by ten listed property firms, eight of them achieved higher net profit growth this year than in the same period of last year. The exception was Sansiri Plc and Land and Houses Plc, which posted a net profit of Bt1 billion and Bt8.2 billion for the nine months, a drop of 50.98 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively from the same period of last year.
Origin Property Plc, Golden Land Property Development Plc and Property Perfect Plc achieved high growth exceeding 100 per cent for the comparison period. Other key firms also showed double-digit net profit growth for the first nine months compared to the same period of last year except for Pruksa Holdings Plc and LPN Development Plc, who achieved net profit growth of one digit, 8.08 per cent and 9.21 per cent respectively, compare to last year’s equivalent period (see graphic).

Origin Property Plc’s CEO Peerapong Charoon-Ek pointed to the company’s success in launching condominium projects in the last two years that were completed this year and transferred to customers starting early in 2018.
The company also recorded Bt10.69 billion in total revenue for the first nine months of this year, up 166 per cent from the same period of last year. This was the first time the company had boosted its total revenue beyond Bt10 billion, he said.
He noted that Origin also has more condominium units for transfer to its customers in the last quarter of this year and plans to launch two new single detached house and townhouse projects worth Bt2.9 billion in the last quarter of this year. Together, they will boost total revenue growth to achieve the targeted Bt16 billion by the end of this year.
Pruksa Holding Plc’s deputy group chief executive Supattra Paopiamsap told a press conference yesterday that in the first three quarters of 2018, Pruksa Real Estate had achieved satisfactory results – a net profit of Bt4.017 billion, a rise of 8.1 per cent year-on-year, on total revenues of Bt30.48 billion. The company also plans to launch 15 new residential projects for the last quarter, worth Bt11.4 billion, to boost its total revenue and net profit growth for the period, she said.
Sansiri Plc’s chief financial officer Wanchak Buranasiri reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday that in the first nine months of this year, Sansiri and its subsidiaries reported a net profit of Bt1.00 billion, a drastic decrease from net profit of Bt2.04 billion last year’s same period. The net profit margin of 5.6 per cent on total revenue for the nine months had decreased from 8.8 per cent of total revenue a year ago, due to decreased revenue from project sales and an increase in selling expenses.
However, the company has confidence its presales will grow to achieve the target Bt50 billion by the end of this year, after it recorded presales of Bt43.6 billion in the first 10 months of this year, he said in a press release yesterday.
“The new measure by the Bank of Thailand to increase down-payments for second and third homes will boost the demand to buy residential from this time until the first quarter of next year before the new measures take effect on April 1, 2019,” Wanchak said.