Thailand Business News – Property in South East Asia has dropped off the radar for cash-strapped British buyers, according to data from the United Kingdom’s leading property website. Thailand Business News
Read more from the original source:
South East Asia property too expensive for British buyers
Thailand’s property sector is showing signs of an early recovery, as selective investors return to purchasing real estate stocks and actual property.
Some of the credit goes to a one-year government stimulus package that reduces the Special Business Tax from 3.3% to 0.11%, extends the reduction on transfer taxes from 2% to 0.01% and mortgage registration fees and provides a tax deduction on mortgage principal and interest.
Thailand’s property indicators show:
1.The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index began rebounding in April 2009, and property stocks – while the first to fall in H2/08 – were amongst the first to recover
2. The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has lowered its policy interest rate four times since December 2008, prompting banks to reduce the minimum lending rate (MLR) from 7.25% to 6.25%
3. A continued drop in sales of durable goods due to uncertainty surrounding the economy is highlighted consumer confidence index (CCI) to a historic low of 72.8 in Q1/09 and New housing registrations in Bangkok and surrounding areas fell 43.8% in Q1/09
Instead of wasting resources when consumers were clearly holding back, we decided to restructure the company, clean up the balance sheet and refinance our debt with local banks.
Several factors have contributed to the strong and rapid rebound.
Property market in Thailand remained in a strong position thanks to good sales in the first quarter which were not only driven by the incentives. The stock market is risky to invest in, while buying gold for investment has limitations.
The recovering economy is re-building consumer confidence while homebuyers’ purchasing power is also strong, he said. Development of the mass transit network in Bangkok was another boost for the market. Politics has had little impact on condominium sales but it has dampened investment and the industrial, commercial and tourism sectors.
