The economic rebound, a revival of purchasing power and unchanged housing prices will drive residential market growth in the fourth quarter amid inflation and rising interest rates, according to property developers.
Peerapong Jaroon-ek, president of the Thai Condominium Association, said interest rate hikes were not a concern as there were a lot of positive factors driving the market in the remainder of the year.
"The economy is picking up and purchasing power has resumed after employment improved," he said. "The impact of these positive factors are stronger than the impact of negative factors."
He said the condo market will also recover as people started to feel the impact of rising travel costs.
Some homebuyers also could not afford a low-rise house as their prices kept rising due to increasing land costs.
In 2020-21, land costs for low-rise housing development rose around 20% per year.
This increase has pushed up prices of low-rise houses by 8-10% per year, said Mr Peerapong.
Wasan Kiangsiri, president of the Housing Business Association, said the fourth quarter will be the right time for homebuyers to accelerate decisions as property prices have risen every year, driven by soaring land prices.
"The rise of interest rates by 0.25 percentage points remains minimal compared with the high interest rates several years ago," he said. "The interest rates are in an upward trend and will not go back to that low again."
Meesak Chunharuckchot, president of the Thai Real Estate Association, said housing demand in the middle segment in particular showed signs of recovery due to the government's tax incentives and promotions offered by developers.
"Residential demand will pick up in the fourth quarter due to a better economic sentiment," he said. "Inflation and rising development costs affect housing prices but many developers have frozen prices to attract buyers."
The three property associations will hold the 42nd House & Condo Fair at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center during Oct 27-30, 2022.
More than 1,000 properties from 200 developers will be introduced during the show.
As the fair has not been held for two years since Covid-19 broke out in 2020, the associations aim to have sales of over 50 billion baht during and after the event.