Thailand Business Directory

Bangkok’s property market enjoyed strong growth in the first quarter of this year, led by a 35 per cent jump in the number of condominium units released in Bangkok from the year-earlier period.

Some 14,600 units were added to the market in the capital for the quarter,, said Surachet Kongchepp, a property market researcher with Surachet’s research showing that up to 66 per cent of the condominium launches are near mass transit systems.

This was especially evident in the area from Rama 9 Road to Huay Khwang, which saw 4,400 units released over the three months, he said. Up to 55 per cent of the units released in the period were sold, Surachet added.

Meanwhile, listed property companies have said their presales in the first quarter came in better than the numbers for the same period of last year. AP (Thailand) booked presales of Bt10 billion for the quarter, up 168 per cent from the same period of last year.

Of this take, up to 64 per cent …

On March 22, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum imposing tariffs as high as 25% on US$60 billion-worth of Chinese exports to the U.S.

In response, on April 2, China announced retaliatory tariffs worth around US$3 billion on a range of U.S. products.

While the move has sparked concerns of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies, its actual impact on the Chinese economy is likely to be minimal, given the small size of the tariffs – and the goods they pertain to – compared to China’s overall economy.

U.S. and Chinese officials are now reported to be engaged in closed-door talks aimed at preventing a trade war. Any agreement is likely to accelerate the opening up of the Chinese economy in areas including financial services, electric vehicles, healthcare and elderly care, while providing incentives for foreign businesses investing in China.

CBRE Research believes t…

Hong Kong is learning from its all-time rival Singapore as it seeks to tame the city’s land prices.

In addition to the tender amount of the successful bidder in land sales, the Hong Kong government will now publish the amounts of all failing tender submissions, announced Secretary for Development Michael Wong in a media briefing for land sale programme in the new year.

Under the city’s previous land tender system, only the winning bid is revealed while the amounts of other bids submitted were not disclosed. Starting from April, after all transaction procedures for the successful bid are completed, the government will publish the amounts of the other tender submissions, though without identifying who made which offers.

“In view of the uniqueness of the property market, we think it may be a good time to increase the transparency of the market.”

Michael Wong, Secretary for Development,

The rule change …