Real Estate

Singapore, December 18, 2019 — Moody’s Investors Service has today affirmed the Baa1 foreign currency long-term bank deposit ratings of Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited’s (BBL) with a positive outlook.

Moody’s has also affirmed BBL’s Baseline Credit Assessment (BCA) and adjusted BCA at baa1.

BBL’s outlook is positive, in line with the positive outlook on Thailand’s sovereign rating (Baa1 positive).

Ratings rationale

Today’s rating action follows the announcement by BBL on 12 December 2019 that it will acquire a 89.12% stake in Bank Permata Tbk (P.T.) (Baa3 review for upgrade, ba1) from Standard Chartered Bank (A1 stable, baa1) and PT Astra International Tbk.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals from the Bank of Thailand and Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority, as well as approval from the BBL’s shareholders. The affirmation of BBL’s baa1 B…

 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has trimmed its forecasts for economic growth in developing Asia this year and next year as growth in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and India is weighed down by both external and domestic factors.

In a supplement to its Asian Development Outlook 2019 Update released in September, ADB now expects gross domestic product (GDP) in the region to expand 5.2% in both 2019 and 2020, down from the September forecast of 5.4% growth this year and 5.5% next year.

Southeast Asia’s growth forecast is revised down slightly to 4.4% for 2019, as economic weakening in Singapore and Thailand prompts downward adjustments to their growth forecasts. Projected subregional growth in 2020 is maintained at 4.7%.

Thailand’s economy expanded by only 2.5% in January– September this year as growth moderated for private consumption and for public consumption and investment. Weaker trade also dragged on …

According to Bot latest Press Release, the Thai economy continued to be on a decelerating trend in October. The value of merchandise exports continued to contract, mainly due to the economic slowdown of trading partners, consistent with deterioration in manufacturing production and private investment indicators.

Public spending contracted after last month’s expansion, from capital expenditures. However, private consumption indicators expanded at a higher pace compared with the previous month after temporarily benefiting from the government’s economic stimulus measures. The tourism sector also continued to expand well.?

          On the stability front, headline inflation edged lower on the back of falling energy prices while core inflation held steady. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate slightly decreased, in line with the rising number of employed persons in agricultural sector. T…

The new Land and Property Tax which will be effective from January 2020 onward, is another challenge for the Thai property market. 

One of the sectors that will be impacted is vacant land. There are still many unused sites in Bangkok. Owners of these sites will have to start paying significant taxes for the first time once the new land tax comes into effect in January next year.

Many of these owners want to avoid paying the higher rate empty land tax by developing some commercial use on these sites which will generate enough income to pay the new land tax so that they do not have to sell the land.

The risk for many owners is that in their rush to develop commercial use to avoid paying the higher tax rate they create a bigger financial burden for themselves by developing inappropriate loss-making developments.

Lacking expertise, experience and market knowledge, they may end up building something for which there is no dema…

The recent restrictive measures from the Bank of Thailand (BOT) have continued to cast a shadow over Bangkok’s condominium market since the beginning of this year.

Condominium sales have dropped, putting pressure on developer’s financial targets. Some developers have sought to diversify their risk in pure residential development projects for sale by seeking to develop alternative sources of revenue from recurring income properties. 

Growing concerns about excessive residential mortgage lending by commercial banks prompted the BOT to reduce loan-to-value ratios (LTV ratios) for second and subsequent home mortgages starting from 1st April 2019. CBRE believes the new measures have significantly reduced the number of speculative buyers and buy-to-rent investors of residential condominium units.

A slowdown in the condominium market has encouraged major residential developers to consider diversifying their portfolios into other property sectors …

Social media is transforming retail and expanding the e-commerce world. It goes without saying that the presence of social media in any retail store is critical to its marketing and sales reach.

It has not only simplified the process of buying but also created a platform for brands to have a global outreach.

E-commerce is becoming easier and faster, making it increasingly popular. Recently, Instagram introduced a shopping feature that allows users to purchase products within the app. With the “Checkout” feature, users can tap on products they like and purchase it without leaving the app.

This creates a frictionless experience for consumers, simplifying the buying process and making it easier to find desired products.

Most popular social networks, July 2019Source: Statista

Facebook’s algorithm allows it to target certain audiences for certain ads as they have access to large amounts of information on their users. Facebook al…

The sales rate for new condos launched in Bangkok in the second quarter fell to 15.7 %, an all-time low, beating the lowest previous quarter (35%) in 2010 when the “red shirt” political crisis brought Bangkok to a standstill.

Risinee Sarikaputra, director of research, said to the Bangkok Post that “The normal quarterly sales rate for new condo launches is around 40-50%,” 

According to Knight Frank’s market research, Bangkok hit a decade-long record for new condos entering the market, with 65,000 new units launched throughout 2018, up 11% from 2017, the highest since 2009.

In the first and second quarter this year, new condo supply launched in Bangkok totalled 12,882 units and 14,988 units, respectively.

Knight Frank reported Bangkok had cumulative condo supply from 2010 to the first half of 2019 of 594,453 units with a sales rate of 84%, unchanged from 2017.

525,889 Empty homes i…

ProperDi Co., Ltd. announced today that they have added selected property industry experts to continue their innovation in the property sector and changed their platform name to ProperDee.  

These key additions are led by Mr. Cobby Leathers, Mr. Sievert Larsson, and Dr. Arie Bloed with additional participation from a team of property experts.  Mr. Leathers will assume the title of CEO and direct company growth.

Mr. Leathers recently left Sansiri PLC after 10 years, most recently as Head of International Business.  He is a noted expert of Thailand property and often appears on Bloomberg, CNN, Fox, and other news programs.  

ProperDee’s goal is to become the property technology leader in Asia by providing the tools that empower property Agents to connect, learn, and succeed like never before. 

And create the largest network of property professionals across Asia. We will grow across the King…