Large homebuilder Seacon Home Group aims to fetch 1.5 billion baht in sales in 2018, up from 1.3 billion estimated for this year, saying overall market sentiment has picked up since late last month.
Managing director Supitcha Chaipipat said market sentiment has recovered quickly since late October and the company's sales were higher than expected.
"Before October, we were not confident about consumer sentiment," she said. "But sales in October and November resumed after the SET index rose. The segment that recovered most quickly was the middle, units priced between 8 million and 15 million baht."
During the past two years, purchasing power in the mid-priced segment was strong but buyers lacked confidence, particularly in big investments like building a house, Ms Supitcha said.
Seacon recorded 136 million baht from 27 units sold at the Baan Lae Suan fair in early November, surpassing its target of 100 million. The company expects to have 1.3 billion baht in sales by year-end, up from 1.1 billion last year.
Ms Supitcha said momentum in the final two months of 2017 should carry over into next year.
During the first 10 months of this year, the group posted 1 billion baht in sales from 213 units. The largest was from Compact Home Co, the mid-priced segment, with 462 million baht.
Behind that were the high-priced segment under Seacon Home with 426 million baht and the low-end segment under Budget Home Co with 153 million.
Ms Supitcha said 80% of buyers in the low-end segment were borrowers, as they were first-time homebuyers, while 80% of those in the high-end segment paid cash.
To capture new trends in consumer behaviour, the group has introduced innovations such as elderly care and active airflow to units. Use of prefabricated pieces will continue to reduce dependency on labour.
"We will cap unit prices until March next year and will review costs in mid-2018 before raising prices," Ms Supitcha said. "The government's spending on megaprojects will affect housing prices as the labour force and some construction materials are drawn to the megaprojects."
According to the Bureau of Trade and Economic Indices, overall construction material prices in the first nine months of the year rose 1.4% year-on-year. The highest increase was in steel and metal prices at 8.2%.
The price of wood rose 3.3%, while that of concrete edged up 0.3%.
To attract younger buyers, Seacon redesigned its website to look more modern and offer interactive features. The company will also spend 10 million baht to renovate showrooms at five branches citywide and one in Chon Buri.
Ms Supitcha said the largest segment in the homebuilding market remains units priced at 2-4 million baht, which account for 50%, followed by 5-10 million at 20-25%.