Charn Issara plans six high-end projects

Charn Issara plans six high-end projects

Seeking to sidestep mortgage rejections

A three-storey single detached house at Baan Issara Bangna. The project includes 44 units priced at 38-94 million baht each.
A three-storey single detached house at Baan Issara Bangna. The project includes 44 units priced at 38-94 million baht each.

SET-listed Charn Issara Development Plc (CI) will launch six new projects worth a combined 6.4 billion baht in 2019.

The company will tap the high-end segment only and aims for 25% revenue growth.

Chief executive Songkran Issara said the property market next year will be harder as mortgage rejections continue to hit the middle to lower-end segment and demand from Chinese buyers slows.

"We will get less of an impact from banks' stricter rules in mortgage lending and a slowdown in the Chinese buyer market, as we used campaigns to drain our existing inventory in the middle to lower-end segment throughout the past 10 months," Mr Songkran said.

The number of Chinese buyers in the condo market has dropped amid fallout from the US-China trade war and capital controls imposed on outbound investment.

As the high-end segment will see less impact from mortgage rejections and the central bank's new lending curbs, one of Charn Issara's new projects will be a luxury high-rise condo worth 2 billion baht on Chan Road, under the Issara brand. Unit prices will be 180,000 baht per square metre.

Charn Issara will also expand a new hotel to be a 12-storey tower with 50 rooms at Baba Beach Club Hua Hin, worth 1.5 billion baht.

The current project at the Hua Hin site will be sold to Sri Panwa Hotel Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) at a price of up to 550 million baht by the end of this year. The company will hold a REIT shareholder meeting on Friday to seek approval.

Charn Issara expects the value of the Sri Panwa REIT to rise to more than 4 billion baht from the current 3 billion. Meanwhile, the new hotel will be added to the REIT in the next 18 months.

At Thew Talay Estate in Cha-am, the company will launch seven pool villas worth 200 million baht with units priced from 31.9 million baht and develop a vacation club with a 10-storey tower and a total of 80 units worth 1.5 billion baht, tapping high-end tourists.

"Vacation club is a new concept for resort development," Mr Songkran said. "It will fit those interested in a five-star hotel stay but having a budget of less than 1 million baht."

He said the first three hotels joining the club will be Baba Beach in Hua Hin and Phuket and Sri Panwa Phuket.

At luxury hotel Sri Panwa, Charn Issara will develop a convention hall for 400 seats and 20 pool suite hotel rooms worth a combined 1 billion baht and launch four pool villas for sales worth 200 million baht.

Mr Songkran suggested the government control the amount of new hotel room supply in tourist destinations to avoid a devastating impact on hotel owners in the event that the tourism market collapses.

"The shrinking tourism sector in the past few months has had an impact on the country's tourism revenue," he said. "Tourist arrivals in major destinations like Phuket, Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Bangkok, particularly those from China, are decreasing."

After Charn Issara provided consultancy on development and management of a hotel in Hainan worth 18 billion baht for Chinese investor Junfa Real Estate, the hotel is expected to open next October, generating long-term income from hotel management.

CI shares closed Friday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 1.39 baht, down one satang, in trade worth 424,290 baht.

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