Thailand as a property destination. Top 5 it seems; higher than Malaysia.

Everyone knows that Chinese (from China) loves to buy properties. They have been buying in Australia, Singapore and more and more into Malaysia these days. (Of course, Malaysian Chinese love properties too, including me) In fact they are buying a lot in Melbourne. Crazily hot. 28% of Melbourne apartments bought by foreigners  For this article, let’s talk about the Chinese from China.  According to Wason Khongchantr, managing director of Modern Property Consultants Co in an article in property.bangkokpost.com, Thailand is top 5 most favourite property destinations for the Chinese after the U.S, Australia, Canada and New Zealand property markets. I know the last one, New Zealand is not so well known while Canada may be because of Hong Kong’s influence too. Let’s just believe what he shared since I have no idea why is New Zealand ranked ahead of Malaysia. Maybe due to currency calculations.
In terms of reasons, there were two reasons stated as to why Thailand is favoured. The property price is cheap and it provides good returns. For this, I think I have to agree. An old college-mate told me she bought an apartment a few years back for less than RM400,000 but her rental returns are in excess of 6 percent per annum. I think generally, apartments in good locations could be rented out to expats because even at RM400,000 the price remains unaffordable to average Thais who would definitely think about getting their own home first instead of an investment one. Taking the BTS (sky train), I saw one property banner saying that the prices start from just 5 million Baht (RM620,000). Location stated is Sukhumvit. I asked my colleague who was with me and she said it is likely to be a smaller unit of lesser than 800 sq ft and just 2 rooms. These would be mostly targeted at expats. Most of our colleagues would not be the target market she added.
As for the top two cities in Thailand which are favoured? Juwai.com reported the following survey results from the Chinese’s preference:Bangkok (29.3%), followed by Chiang Mai (21.8%), Phuket (17.3%), Pattaya and others with 15.8% each. My Thai colleague just told me that there are already some malls within Bangkok that he does not like to visit. He feels as if he is a minority among the many foreigners, mostly Chinese. After 5 days here, I can safely add two awesome reasons why Thailand should be a great destination for properties, especially for the foreigners. The food and the people. I love the food and the service mindset is something which is extremely tough to replicate. Perhaps only Japanese would be equivalent. Anyway, just my personal opinion. Would I buy a property in Thailand? I think the answer is a Yes but I need to read more because it’s not as straightforward as it seems. There are some limitations for foreigners. Happy visiting and buying.
written on 25 May 2017
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