AT the beautiful coastal city of Rayong two distinct property markets have evolved with one being condominium projects within the city mainly for Thais and the other seaside developments which appeal to international purchasers, Jens Brochner Neilsen, CEO of VIP Real Estate Company said on Saturday.
There has been a lot of condo construction within Rayong city over the last five to six years and as many as 95% of the buyers are Thai. Most companies have been successful here compared to some other provinces where development halted after one or two big schemes were launched.
“When we talk about the seaside market, I would say there was a strong adjustment in 2008 (when the global financial crisis started). But for me it’s been a very constant market, very constant, no ups and downs, but of course on a lower level.”
However Mr Neilsen pointed out that there is an oversupply of condominiums in some resort cities, particularly Pattaya, but in Rayong his company is the only one building condos at the moment.
“It seems the housing market is slowly, slowly expanding every year because increasing number of foreigners are investing in houses, it’s like it’s getting more accepted and they now understand that it’s not a bad thing, as the image implies, if they do it the right way.
“So at the moment we are selling as many houses and townhouses as we do condos.
“But I can say that the resale market is not moving very fast, in fact a bit down right now.”
Mr Neilsen added that while others have complained of a slide in the real estate market after the current government came to power, this in fact did not apply to his company because it has actually seen a slight increase in sales in Rayong.
“It’s like they have greater confidence because of the security.”
While the Pattaya market was hit after the ruble depreciated in 2014 with Mr Nielsen estimating that in some years prior to that the Russians were snapping up as many as 60% of new condo launches there, Rayong is a very different market from its neighbor.
“Russians also came to Rayong, but we were launching the most new properties and we didn’t concentrate at all on the Russian market … we didn’t sell to any of them.”
VIP Real Estate Company also has not focused on the Chinese market after concluding from a detailed study a few years ago that Rayong is not for Chinese people.
However the Chinese do holiday at this attractive seaside city but usually individually not part of a tour group.
“My estimation is that today less than 10% of the visitors are Chinese.”
Mr Nieilsen is also not concentrating on the Thai market because in his opinion Thais are not that interested in investing in seaside properties at the moment with his main buyers coming from Australia, Europe, America and Canada.
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INSET: A well-designed garden pool and villa developed by VIP Real Estate Company.
By Nina Suebsukcharoen
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