Property developers are set to supply an estimated 150 billion baht worth of new housing in the fourth quarter to spur year-end market sentiments.
Prasert Taedullayasatit, president of the Thai Condominium Association, said most developers are now ready to launch new projects after focusing on selling housing stock that was ready to transfer during the six months that the government was offering property tax incentives.
The tax break ran from Oct 29 of last year until April this year.
"The incentives helped stimulate sales of completed housing units, so most developers focused on selling their inventory in the first four months, while putting on hold new launches until the second half of the year," he said.
In the first half, 11 large SET-listed developers launched a total of 86 new projects worth about 100 billion baht, from a total of 220 projects worth 300 billion baht they planned to launch in 2016. The first-half amount accounted for 33% of the total.
In July and August, Mr Prasert estimated the value of new launches totalled around 30-35 billion baht, mainly in the high-end segment. Over 150 billion baht of completed housing units in the pipeline were waiting to be launched in the fourth quarter.
He said new supply launched in the market this year would drop to 355 billion baht from 412 billion last year, which was an annual historic record in the property market. Housing demand would be stable or grow no higher than 5% from 354.8 billion baht last year.
Atip Bijanonda, president of the Housing Business Association, said the property market this year varies based on locations and pricing segments. However, Greater Bangkok remains a key driver for overall market growth, he said.
"Developers are trying to boost market sentiment during a period of unfavourable outlook by launching new housing in Greater Bangkok," he said. "In provinces, markets need to depend on government policies to stimulate demand."
During the first seven months, the number of housing transfers rose by 11.3%, mainly driven by the number of condo transfers, which increased 64%. Townhouse and single house transfers dropped 11% and 28% respectively.
The Thai Condominium Association, the Housing Business Association and the Thai Real Estate Association will hold House and Condo Expo 2016 at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center from Oct 6-9, where 200 developers will showcase over 1,000 projects.
Mr Prasert, also president of SET-listed developer Pruksa Real Estate Plc, said Pruksa alone will launch 30-40 projects worth up to 40 billion baht in the fourth quarter, representing 60% of the total it planned to launch this year.
Tritecha Tangmatitham, managing director of SET-listed developer Supalai Plc, said the company will launch eight new projects worth 17 billion baht in the fourth quarter, comprising six low-rise sites worth 6 billion baht and two condo projects worth 11 billion.
Supalai maintained presales and revenue target at 24.5 billion baht and 22 billion baht respectively. Good presales of low-rise projects in Chon Buri, Rayong and Phuket are likely to outperform low-rise presales target by 500 million baht.
"Condominiums in provinces remain sluggish, and it will take at least a few years to recover due to oversupply," he added.
In the first half, Supalai recorded 12.7 billion baht in revenue, and had a sales backlog of 34 billion, of which 7.3 billion was allotted to the second half.