SET-listed Sena Development Plc has increased its new project outlook for this year to 17 worth 15.7 billion baht, with over 80% of them joint ventures with developer Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corp of Japan.
Managing director Kessara Thanyalakpark said the uptick from 15 projects worth 14 billion baht planned earlier this year was driven by the company's strong performance last year and improving confidence in the overall situation.
"Our 2020 results encouraged us to be more aggressive this year," she said. "We are confident in new segments such as low-rise houses and condos priced lower than 1 million baht."
Last year, Sena posted a record-high net profit of 1.12 billion baht, a rise of 25% from 2019. Transfers also reached a record at 7.6 billion baht, growth of 46% from 4.8 billion baht in 2019.
Joint venture projects with the Japanese partner were the key driver for growth as revenue from these reached 4.14 billion baht, compared with 1.37 billion baht in 2019.
"This year our partner's confidence in the company and Thai property market is stronger. Joint ventures with Hankyu this year will rise to 14 projects of the 17 sites in total we plan to launch."
Over the past five years, Hankyu and Sena teamed up for 14 joint venture projects worth a combined 40 billion baht, all of which were condos in prime Bangkok locations.
Of the total new projects being launched in 2021, 11 will be condos worth a combined 10.3 billion baht and six will be low-rise houses worth 5.4 billion baht.
Last year, the company launched only three projects due to the pandemic.
The company can set a larger number of new projects this year partly because of lower inventory on hand with 7 billion baht from 38 existing projects in Greater Bangkok.
One of the new projects will be the former Piti Ekamai, a high-priced condo project on Soi Ekamai launched in 2018 which will be rebranded as Niche Pride Ekamai.
It will revise its designs to tap a new target -- younger buyers -- and reduce the price to 130,000 baht per square metre from 160,000 baht.
Sena aims to have 11.1 billion baht in presales and 10 billion baht in revenue by the end of the year.
"Competition in the market this year, particularly the low-rise segment, will be higher as the condo market is sluggish," she said. "We see room for condo units priced below one million baht in the same location with townhouses."
She said the lower-priced condo market had an opportunity as the market mechanism, such as higher land prices, will drive demand from those with limited travel budget.