Pattaya condo market strong despite blues

Previously, most property buyers were foreigners, but after the economic crisis hit a few years ago, more local buyers entered the market. In some projects, especially those in North Pattaya , where many retail outlets, high-end restaurants and bars and a shopping mall are located, demand was mainly from Thais.

Risinee Sarikaputra, associate director, said yesterday that condos in South Pattaya, however, were still generally favoured by foreigners. Jomtien is the new area where high demand is present. Russians are potential buyers, with preferred locations in the Pratumnak Hill and Jomtien Second Road areas. Low-end projects with partial sea views, with studios 28 square metres in size, are selling at Bt900,000 per unit.

Low-end condos have also cropped up in Jomtien Second Road, thanks to the completion of road-improvement projects that make the area more attractive. One such resort, Laguna Beach Resort, is popular among Russian buyers.

The first half of this year saw about 5,500 condos from 12 new projects come on stream. Most condos launching this year are asking Bt900,000 to Bt1.8 million per unit.

Pattaya condos are categorised by their proximity to the beach – the closer to the beach, the higher the price. Projects that sold below Bt50,000 per square metre were relatively far from the beach, about 2 kilometres away. Sample projects are De Blue, Unicca and the Trust Residence.

Projects priced at over Bt60,000 but less than Bt100,000 per square metre are in the city area, where there are world-class dining venues, an ever-growing range of shopping facilities and the world-famous nightlife of Walking Street.

Sample projects are Sixty Six Condominium, Centara Avenue Residence and Suites, Grand Carib-bean and City Garden Condomini-um. Developments sold for more than Bt100,000 per square metre were sea-view projects located in from North Pattaya to South Pattaya and Jomtien.

Interestingly, sea-view units in Pratumnak sold for less than Bt100,000 per square metre. This is because, despite the view, the actual distance to the beach is very far. The Pratumnak area does not have its own beach.

This year, there are only three sea-view condo projects launching – Waterfront, Centara Grand Residence Pattaya and Moevenpick White Sand Beach Pattaya. Located in Na Jomtien, the last one is a re-launched project. All three projects are categorised as hotel-branded condos that provide no rental guarantees but offer value enhancement through brand affiliations.

These are different from hotel-branded vacation homes that offer attractive management of ongoing returns. There are no such projects in Pattaya.

In Thailand, the premier destination of hotel-branded vacation homes is Phuket, led by famed hotelier Adrian Zecha’s Amanpuri, followed by leading luxury boutique brand Banyan Tree. Both offer the ability to own property within an upper-tiered hotel.

Another eminent hotel-branded vacation-home complex is Laguna Phuket, developed by Laguna Resorts & Hotels. It consists of several projects in the same location.

Such developments are managed by many international brands, such as Sheraton, Allamanda, Banyan Tree, Dusit and Outrigger.

Hotel-branded vacation homes provide a rental guarantee, from 5-7 per cent, depending on various conditions. The owners of those homes reserve the privilege of choosing the exact number of days they wish to stay in their home each year, while the rest of the nights are reserved to sell at daily rates to generate returns.