SET-listed Raimon Land Plc (RML) will continue requiring high down payments in a bid to rein in transfer failure.
The 600-million-baht Mews Yen Akat, planned for Yen Akat Soi 2 in Bangkok, will comprise eight semi-detached houses priced from 75 million baht along with one single house.
Chief executive Johnson Tan said the policy would help to screen out short-term speculators and maintain a high transfer rate at its projects.
Currently, the company requires a minimum down payment of 25% of the selling price for the middle-priced segment and up to 40% for high-end homes.
High deposits deter short-term speculators, so projects will have a low chance of being sold out in a short period, thus enabling projects to raise their selling prices over time, Mr Tan said.
For example, condos at the 185 Rajadamri project, completed last year, now go for 312,000 baht a square metre after starting at 190,000 baht when launched five years ago.
The company will also apply high down payments at its two new projects to be launched in the fourth quarter -- Mews Yen Akat and The Lofts Asoke.
The 600-million-baht Mews will feature eight 4.5-storey semi-detached houses priced from 75 million baht each or 100,000 baht per sq m along with one single house whose price has yet to be determined.
The project will be located on Yen Akat Soi 2 on land the company paid 180 million baht for late last year.
Each unit will sit on a plot sized at least 66.7 sq wah, and two semi-detached houses have been sold since last month's soft launch.
In November, it will launch The Lofts Asoke condominium project.
The 2.5-billion-baht project will comprise 200 units sized from 35 sq m and priced from 200,000 baht per sq m.
The 30-storey-plus project will be located on Asok Road opposite Rutnin Eye Hospital, on land it bought early this year for 850 million baht.
In the first eight months of this year, Raimon Land recorded 1.22 billion baht in presales, down by 49.2% year-on-year.
Raimon Land had a sales backlog worth 8 billion baht as of June 30, of which 2.5 to 3 billion will be realised in the second half.
It has 6 billion baht worth of unsold units at five projects -- 10% of units remaining at The River, 15% at 185 Rajadamri, 14% at The Lofts Ekkamai, 17% at Zire Wongamat in Pattaya and 39% at Unixx South Pattaya.
"After Unixx, our latest project launched in Pattaya, is completed this year, we'll focus only on central Bangkok next year. But we won't rule out key tourist destinations such as Phuket or Chiang Mai if there's an opportunity," said Mr Tan, the only Singaporean among 150 staff of 14 different nationalities.
Raimon Land achieved first-half revenue of 3.05 billion baht, down by 16% year-on-year, for a net profit of 545 million, down by 32%.
Its full-year revenue in 2014 totalled 6.64 billion baht, up by 15.3% from 2013 and 20.3% from 2012.
However, last year's presales amounted to 3 billion baht, down by 20% from 2013 and 47% from 2012.
RML shares closed yesterday on the SET at 1.15 baht, down two satang, in trade worth 6.86 million baht.