A roaring economy, easy credit and little sign that supply had yet to catch up with years of pent-up demand following the 1997 crisis all offered signs of optimism for sector pundits.

It's a somewhat different story heading into 2005. Property developers, while still optimistic about growth prospects, say that consumers are now taking a more cautious approach, in light of local and global uncertainties.

Soaring oil prices have slashed economic growth projections by nearly a quarter for the year, with many analysts warning that 2005 will be even tougher due to a more difficult global environment.

Higher steel, labour and materials costs have also caused prices to move up, while official land valuations announced earlier in the year are already some 30% higher than previous values.

And dominating developers' and consumers' minds is the prospect of higher interest rates, with many banks moving to cut back the multi-year, fixed-rate offerings that have proved so popular over the past three years.

And yet a bit of restraint might well prove beneficial for the entire industry over the long run to avoid a repeat of the boom-and-bust cycle repeating that of the mid-1990s.

Pundits express hope that the market has now entered a more mature, stable period of growth, one where the key forces of supply and demand are better balanced for the good of consumers and developers alike.

The reality is that while prices in the Bangkok city centre have risen sharply over the past few years, it's only now that prices have actually returned to near the levels at which they were a decade ago. Annual sales, estimated at 50,000 to 60,000 units this year, remain well under half that recorded at the height of the property boom in the 1990s. Most experts agree that sales today do reflect actual demand, a sharp contrast to the speculative nature of the market in the past.

Considering that new supply in Bangkok is expected to only tighten in the future, thanks to rising costs and tougher development and zoning regulations, it's a safe bet that values will remain intact for most new homebuyers going forward.

Indeed, property transactions in the first half of the year surprised many analysts who had been anticipating a decline after tax incentives expired last December.

Other developments bode well for the future market. Much of the growth over the past year has come at the outskirts of Bangkok, as developers and buyers look to the future promise of a more efficient, commuter-friendly traffic environment.

For years, property values and buying decisions have been skewed by considerations of traffic, with many young urban professionals preferring condominiums in the central business district over long daily commutes to the suburbs.

But just as the Bangkok skytrain and now the new subway have led to a revolution in mass transit within the inner city, authorities hope to lead a similar change over the entire capital region. More than 446 billion baht in new investments are planned over the next six years on new light rail projects aimed at easing the load on the current expressways and trunk roads from suburban Bangkok into the city centre.

New zoning regulations, meanwhile, are hoped to lead to more rational space utilisation and reduce the sprawl and confusion that dominates all too many of the capital's districts.

Bangkok's new airport, expected to open in September of 2005, has led to a surge of activity in the eastern part of the city. A similar expansion is occurring in Northern Bangkok and Pathum Thani, as Chaeng Watthana Road has developed into a bustling thoroughfare that promises to be the new home for a large part of the apparatus of the national government.

And just as homebuyers can now look forward to greater options and choices in location, so has the market developed in terms of finance and product. Yes, interest rates might be locked into a gradual up cycle. But rates remain low from a historic perspective, while more options remain available on how best to structure a loan, whether it be a combination of fixed or floating rates, terms of up to 30 years, or even more innovative hire-purchase alternatives from institutions such as the Islamic Bank of Thailand.

Competition has also increased the variety of offerings, with today's architects and designers more willing and daring to mix glass, steel and brick in different approaches to cater to more savvy buyers.