Leading developers plan 121 residential launches in Q4

Leading property firms plan to launch 121 residential projects worth more than Bt156 billion this quarter after seeing an improvement in demand in the third quarter.

According to a survey by The Nation and research by Asia Plus Securities, Supalai plans to launch 11 projects worth Bt13 billion in the current fourth quarter. Land & Houses plans eight worth Bt11.66 billion; four will be detached-housing projects, and the rest condominiums.

Pruksa Real Estate plans 34 launches worth Bt30 billion, 28 of which will be low-rise projects – detached houses, townhouses and duplexes – and the other six will be condominiums. 

“We decided to launch more projects in the last quarter of the year when we saw demand strongly recovering in August and September,” said Prasert Taedullayasatit, Pruksa managing director for condominiums.

He added that the company recorded presales worth Bt13.3 billion in the third quarter. When that figure is combined with the presales totalling Bt18 billion in the first half, the nine-month total was Bt31.3 billion.

The 34 fourth-quarter launches valued at Bt30 billion should take its presales to the targeted Bt42 billion for the full year, he said.

Supalai deputy managing director Tritecha Tangmatitham said the company planned to kick off 11 residential projects valued at Bt13 billion this quarter, of which seven will be low-rises, namely detached homes, duplexes and townhouses, and four will be condominiums.

“We saw residential demand start to recover in June when the country’s political stability returned, so we believe that our revenue and presales will achieve the target for this year,” he said.

The value of Supalai’s presales in the first nine months was Bt15 billion.

Ananda Development chief executive officer Chanond Ruangkritya said the company saw demand for condominiums recover in the third quarter and as a result it decided to launch four new condo projects valued at Bt14.95 billion this quarter.

“They will boost our presales to the targeted Bt11.5 billion this year, Bt6 billion of which will come from our four new projects launched in the last quarter,” he said.

Terdsak Taweetheeratham, senior vice president of Asia Plus Securities, said the top 15 listed property firms planned to launch more residential projects this quarter after delaying their launches in the first half.

According to the company’s research, the top 15 firms plan to launch 243 projects valued at Bt290 billion this year, 40 per cent of which were launched in the first half. Of the remaining 60 per cent planned for the second half, most will be in the final three months. This is due to stronger demand, he said.

Despite the upsurge in project launches this quarter, the overall property market in metropolitan Bangkok will still drop by about 10 per cent compared with last year. The market fell by 21 per cent in the first half compared with the same period last year.

Pruksa managing director Prasert, who is also president of the Thai Condominium Association, said presales in Greater Bangkok totalled only Bt140 billion in the first half, down 21 per cent year on year. However, the market began recovering in the third quarter, with presale value of between Bt70 billion and Bt80 billion in August and September. 

He estimates the Greater Bangkok property market will record presale value of Bt310 billion this year, down 10.9 per cent from last year’s Bt348.5 billion.

The demand is largely for condominiums close to the mass-transit system and priced between Bt2 million and Bt5 million per unit, he added.

“This demand has boosted land prices around the mass-transit system by more than 10 per cent from last year, especially in areas where there is not much land available for residential development,” he said.