Ideas 1606, a holiday home developer under the Veyla brand, aims to sell six villas on Phangnga's Natai beach for 75 million baht each by the end of this year, with plans to launch a new project on a 100-rai plot of land on Phi Phi Island in 2024.
Prapavadee Sophonpanich, Ideas 1606 founder and chief executive, said demand for luxury beachfront villas among Thai buyers is growing, both for personal use and rental purposes.
"Natai has emerged as a popular beach destination among affluent travellers, particularly those from Europe who have resumed their trips to Thailand since last year," she said.
Launched for sale in mid-2019 for a total value of 1.2 billion baht, Veyla Natai Residences completed construction in the middle of last year.
At present, six out of the 15 three-bedroom villas are still available for sale.
Mrs Prapavadee said the sales strategy had been modified after the pandemic, shifting from selling bare-shell villas to fully furnished ones. Additional services and a rental programme have also been added to attract investment buyers.
Although prices were revised up by 15% from 65-85 million baht to 75-98 million baht, feedback from customers was positive as seven more units were sold compared to just two units sold before the pandemic.
"Since villa purchases for rental purposes are becoming popular among Thai buyers, we have partnered with Elite Havens to manage our rental programme," Mrs Prapavadee said. "It is an expert in the Na Tai beach area with 17 villas under management."
Founded by a Singaporean, Elite Havens is a luxury villa rental and management firm owned by Dusit International.
Its portfolios are located in Phuket, Samui, Bali and Lombok in Indonesia, the Maldives, Japan's Niseko, Sri Lanka and India.
Of the nine units sold, seven were beachfront two-storey villas and two were sea-view three-storey villas.
Buyers included customers from Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Thailand.
A Thai was also a buyer at the company's first project -- Veyla Khao Tao Residences in Prachuap Khiri Khan.
Last year, a number of sea-view villas were rented out for US$2,000 per night.
Between November and December last year, the resumption of foreign travellers boosted the rental yield of those villas to 8%.
"The rental yield of 8% was achieved from an occupancy rate of 50%," Mrs Prapavadee said. "The majority of our customers came from Europe, with an average stay of six nights and a maximum stay of one month."
During the pandemic, Mrs Pra- pavadee purchased a land plot of nearly 100 rai, which features a 500-metre beachfront area on Phi Phi Don Island.
Her plan is to develop a luxury holiday home project, which is set to launch next year.
According to the Department of Business Development, Mrs Prapavadee and her husband Chone, who is also chief executive of Bangkok Life Assurance Plc, founded Veyla Phiphi Club and Residences with registered capital of 20 million baht in September 2022.
They established Ideas 1606 in 2008 with registered capital of 20 million baht.
The company developed two holiday home projects, comprising Veyla Khao Tao Residences and Veyla Cha-Am Residences, worth 500 million baht each. They are now sold out.
"We have plans to expand the Veyla brand to include wellness-related businesses, as we believe the brand value is ripe for such a venture," Mrs Prapavadee said. "Additionally, we are exploring opportunities for holiday home development overseas."