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Mark Bowling is senior sales manager with Colliers International’s Pattaya office, located opposite Central Festival on Second Road. The branch office was recently awarded the accolade of Best Agent (Eastern Seaboard) at the 2010 Thailand Property Awards. He joined Colliers International in early 2009 having been employed as sales manager by a local property development firm since 2006. Mark has enjoyed a successful career in international sales and marketing spanning more than 20 years both in Thailand and the UK.
Attraction of Pattaya
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’ve been witnessing something of a renaissance in the Pattaya property market, so what’s been happening and who’s been behind it all? Throughout 2009 and much of early 2010 we noted a marked reduction in new developments coming onto the market, mainly due to the global economic crisis and the restraint wisely shown by many developers. Thankfully, it appears the worst could well be behind us with the reintroduction of formerly halted projects and of new developments appearing almost on a weekly basis – Pattaya is thriving once more! During the second half of 2010 the hottest location for several local developers became the comparatively untouched Cosy Beach area of Pratumnak Hill, where several high rise condominiums are either currently under construction or in the relatively early stages of sales and marketing. The Cliff by Nova Group was the first to enter the race late in 2009 and has successfully sold approximately 70 per cent of its 427 units in little more than 12 months, a fantastic achievement taking into account the economic climate during that period. Increased supply Following on from the success of The Cliff, Nova Group recently introduced the similarly priced Legend (pictured right) on Cosy Beach, which, together with five other proposed high rises in the same area, will increase the supply hugely in this hot spot by several thousand units between 2012 and 2013. Wong-Amat will also fuel future supply for 2013 with the introduction
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Developers are already geared up to cater for the growing demand from a strongly emerging middle class.
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By mark bowling of three large-scale luxury projects The Palm, Zire Wongamat and the W Tower. So who are the buyers, where are they from? Looking out from our office opposite Central Festival on Second Road we see many more Middle Eastern and Indian visitors than has been previously known. They mostly have a huge desire to buy property here, but are still very cautious and many have small budgets. With strict embargoes against Iran, it is also virtually impossible to send payments directly to Thailand. I do, however, see these countries becoming super powers on the Pattaya property scene in the very near future, just as the Russians started off slowly several years ago. Despite the Baht weakening slightly in weeks just before I wrote this article, it is not expected to return to the golden era of a few years ago. Having said that, foreign buyers from the Euro zone, United
Kingdom and USA continue to buy property in Pattaya in large numbers. Nevertheless, spending power has been curbed with the most popular price range being between Bt3-6m. There is plenty of availability in this market segment as we see designers and architects have given much thought to innovatively maximising limited floor space more efficiently, thus reducing sales prices without sacrificing location, facilities and overall quality. Weaker exchange rates The high end of the market appears to have suffered most during the economic downturn and many investors are reluctant to spend in excess of Bt10m mainly due to the weaker exchange rates. With the possible arrival of the high-speed rail link we expect Pattaya to enter into a new dawn of increased popularity among Bangkokians and the developers are already geared up to cater for the growing demand from a strongly emerging middle class. Should the proposed monorail system be implemented in Pattaya it will enhance the city above all expectations well into the future. There seems to be no stopping Pattaya’s popularity, both Thais and foreign visitors keep coming back for more. Thais, who traditionally visited Hua Hin, are switching to Pattaya. This is thanks to the reduced travelling time of just 90 minutes from Bangkok, and taking into account the vast selection of shopping, dining and entertainment options. Pattaya is truly evolving into a world class destination.