RESORT PROPERTY
New Pran Buri villas on hold
- By: KANANA KATHARANGSIPORN
- Published: 22/12/2008 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: Business
The property developer Supharat Group plans to slow the construction of new villas in Pran Buri as foreign demand has shrunk during the high season and the local market situation is unfavourable, said managing director Sumeth Sukapanpotharam.
The first 20 Pran-a-luxe villas, priced from 8-12 million baht, have been sold.
Supharat has been constructing four villas in phase two of the 600-million-baht Pran-a-luxe beachfront villa project in Pran Buri, south of Hua Hin in Prachuap Khiri Khan, after selling two units.
"We built two units ahead to support future sales," said Mr Sumeth. "But now we have to be more cautious and need to track down demand. We will not start construction of the next units until demand resumes."
He said the seizure of Suvarnabhumi Airport resulted in a sharp drop in the number of foreigners travelling to Thai tourist destinations who normally turned into buyers. Despite the demand slowdown, though, the company hopes the situation will pick up within a year.
Phase one of Pran-a-luxe, comprising 20 units priced from 12 million to 20 million baht each has been sold out and has started being transferred to buyers. Eight units have been bought by foreigners, most of whom are European.
"What they [foreigners] were worried about is a severe aftermath from political problems with a strong impact on people, like the airport closures," he said, adding that foreign exchange also was a factor.The global crisis has affected foreign buyers but Thai property prices are still lower than those in destinations such as Spain or Dubai, where supply also lacked character, he said.
Though phase two sales have slowed, the group is confident as the supply of beachfront villas in Hua Hin and Pran Buri is limited. This makes renting villas to tourists a good investment with higher appreciation than stocks.
Another of the group's projects is the 360-million baht Sense Condominium on Sukhumvit Soi 68, where 30 units are still for sale from a total of 145 units priced at 60,000 baht per square metre. The group expects to close sales by the first half of next year.
For 2008 Supharat aims to achieve 200 million baht in revenue from sales of the villa project. In 2009 it aims to generate 500 million from the remaining villa and condominium projects.
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