Home transfers sag in October, November

Buyers of condos for a second home or investment also delayed taking possession when the cost rose because of the requirement for a down payment of at least 10 per cent and the cost to transfer of about 7 per cent.
This will force the overall property market in Bangkok and suburbs to slump more than 20 per cent this year, experts told a seminar on “Property Market after the Flood” held by the Real Estate Information Centre (REIC) yesterday.
Issara Boonyoung, president of the Business Housing Association, said home-owners also had to budget for repairing their residences hit by flooding.
According to an October survey by the REIC, transfers in flooded areas plummeted by more than 50 per cent.
In Bangkok, flooded areas recorded only 277 transfers of units, down 52 per cent from the average of 579 units a month this year. The flooded districts included Don Muang, Klong Sam Wa, Chatuchak, Taling Chan, Thawee Watthana, Bang Khen, Bang Khae, Bang Bon, Bang Plat, Phasi Charoen, Sai Mai, Nong Khaem and Lak Si.
Nonthaburi province also crashed 67 per cent from the average of 548 units to only 177 units in October.
Pathum Thani fell 60 per cent from 492 to 194 units.
Thamrong Panyasakulwong, president of the Thai Condo-minium Association, said the real-estate market needed more than a year to recover as home-buyers took time to study locations and save their money to renovate their residences.
Kittipol Pramote Na Ayudhya, president of the Thai Real Estate Association, said new housing transfers in the first 10 months of this year dropped 14 per cent on average and new projects launched in November also slid 23 per cent from the same month of last year. This shows the market is still in a state of shock from the deluge.

 SAME LOCATION
Although the flood swamped several residential neighbourhoods, property firms believe home-buyers will not change locations or residential types.
Issara said it was the Thai culture to continue to stay to close to the family. Although their community faced floods, they will not leave for elsewhere. Instead, they will find a way to protect their home from flooding.
“People who stay in Rangsit will not move to Rama II because that is far from their family,” he said.
They also will not change their residential type from a low-rise such as a detached house or townhouse to a condominium immediately because a condo cannot serve a family’s lifestyle.
“Condos are a better match for new couples rather than families with more than two members especially for home-buyers whose budgets are for residences priced lower than Bt3 million,” he said.

COORDINATE CITY PLANS
The government has to learn from the flood to prepare an emergency plan for floodways and water management, linking Bangkok and suburbs and also all of the nation, Issara said.
Whether the property market will recover or not depends on home-buyers’ confidence in the government’s policy to manage floods. If they are confident, the market will recover within six months or less. If not, the recovery may take more than a year, he said.
Kittipol said the government had to revise master plans to include a flood system and link the design of the Bangkok city plan with suburban plans.
At present, Bangkok will have its own urban plan, Nonthaburi will also design a city plan by itself and likely Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan and others will do the same. They will not connect their flood systems.
“We suggest that they have to combine their city plans. That will help to manage floods better than now,” he said.