COVID-19 outbreak compels office property owners in Bangkok to lower rent

According to Savills Thailand, the current public health crisis will also lead to a property glut 

According to Robert Collins, the chief executive of Savills Thailand, the pandemic has aggravated the already unpredictable office property market in Bangkok, which will most likely cause a drop in rent prices and an oversupply of vacancies, reported Bangkok Post.

“We were predicting the office market was going to come under immense pressure anyway irrespective of the COVID-19 event because the volume of new office supply in the central business district (CBD) is expected to reach 150 percent on top of a current level of supply that would have already put downward pressure on rental rates, likely leading to higher vacancy rates,” explained Robert.

He said that rent prices grew by approximately 100 percent in the past five to 10 years in some of the commercial office buildings at Bangkok’s CBD. However, he said that this trend will fizzle out this year because of the economic situation.

More: Bangkok faces growing condo vacancies as demand from Chinese investors plunge

For this year, Savills Thailand revealed that the capital will soon see a massive surge in new office supply to emerge online from ongoing projects amidst the reducing demand and market growth.

Moreover, the social distancing protocols, which led to more employees working from home, will cause a substantial impact of the office market, said Robert.

“It seems unlikely the work from home movement will play through in a competitive environment,” he added. “If your competitor sticks with a traditional work from the office approach and they are doing well, and your company uses the work from home approach and loses ground, I think work from home will likely get thrown in the bin.”