MAY 2013 | CHIANG MAI CONDOMINIUM MARKET
THAILAND
CHIANG MAI CONDOMINIUM MARKET
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Chiang Mai’s condominium market is booming again after more than a decade of stagnation. The city, which is the main business and educational centre for northern Thailand, was a popular location for condominium development in the 1980s and ‘90s, but that growth ground to a halt as a result of the 1997 financial crisis. Recently, however, developers have started to build condominiums there again, and the first five months of 2013 saw the highest number of units come on to the market for the last 17 years. These new units have been sold at prices that are around 11% higher than during the same period in 2012. According to statistics from the Department of Land, there are approximately 18,640 condominium units in Chiang Mai, more than 6,000 of which have been launched in the last two years. Average take-up rate in the first five months of 2013 was around 72%. Because land has been available at a reasonable price in and around Chiang Mai, and because Thais tend to prefer to live in landed developments, condominiums have traditionally not been the most popular form of development in the city. However, Chiang Mai province is home to a large number of universities with more than 100,000 students, for whom buying a condominium is often more attractive than renting an apartment. In addition, Chiang Mai’s economy has enjoyed sustained growth over the last decade, and its close proximity to neighbouring countries means this is likely to continue. Over the last few years a large number of new shopping malls and other retail developments have been built, and there are government plans for several large infrastructure projects that would directly benefit the city, including a second airport; a high-speed railway from Bangkok to Chiang Mai; and a motorway between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.
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