Supalai trims presales target amid slow condo demand
LISTED property firm Supalai now estimates that its presales will total Bt21 billion this year, lower than the early estimate of Bt23 billion, as demand for condominiums was lower than expected in the first nine months.
However, the company has maintained its revenue target of Bt22 billion, up 17.64 per cent from last year’s Bt18.7 billion, thanks to Bt11.4 billion of its total backlog of Bt38 billion to be booked as revenue during the second half of this year, deputy managing director Tritecha Tangmatitham said.
He made the remarks yesterday at a press conference to launch its first condominium project of the final quarter of the year, Supalai Loft @ Khaerai Station, worth Bt1.1 billion.
The company recorded presales worth Bt15 billion in the first nine months of this year. In the first half, revenue was Bt10.18 billion and net profit Bt1.86 billion.
Supalai’s would-be customers saw a mortgage-rejection rate of 8 per cent in the first nine months, up from 6 per cent last year. Most of the rejections were due to applicants’ bearing debt higher than their purchasing power to pay. However, this figure is still lower than those seen by other property firms because Supalai collects down payments of up to 20 per cent to make sure the demand is real and customers have sufficient purchasing power, he said.
To achieve its presales target, the company plans to launch nine residential projects worth Bt12 billion this quarter. Six of these will be detached-housing and townhouse projects, and the other three condominiums.
The first condo project, Supalai Loft @ Khaerai station, will be open for bookings from October 16 to 18. The company targets sales of up to 60 per cent during the booking period.
Tritecha said the overall property market in the final quarter signalled more stable growth than in the first three quarters. If the government announces a stimulus package to boost the property market this week, that will ensure growth higher than the current estimates.
Earlier, the company estimated that the property market this year would grow by about 10 per cent compared with 2014.
He said the government’s expected measures would benefit residential projects ready for transfer to customers. Supalai’s inventory is worth Bt4.6 billion; Bt3 billion of that is detached houses and townhouses, and the rest condominium projects.
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