Hong Kong protest a gain for Bangkok condos: developer

Is instability in the Chinese SAR causing exodus to the Thai capital’s property offerings?

An official with a Thai property development giant claims that weeks of demonstrations in Hong Kong have led to an upswing in transactions in Bangkok, Bloomberg is reporting.

Keerin Chutumstid, an executive at Magnolia Quality Development, says the protests in the Chinese SAR have provided the company’s 52-storey, riverfront condominium project some “advantage”.

Forty percent of the condo units have already sold to buyers from not only Hong Kong, but also mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore. “If you look at Thailand right now, compared to other countries, we have a good level of political stability,” Keerin told Bloomberg.

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The tower, which rises beside the shopping centre Iconsiam on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, has 146 units on offer with prices ranging between THB65 million (USD2.1 million) and THB533 million.

“Compared to Hong Kong, we’re still much cheaper,’’ Keerin said. “Foreigners come here and they can see that what we have to offer is nothing less than what you’d find in New York, Hong Kong or Singapore.”

Residential properties in Thailand attracted more Chinese buying inquiries than any other country in the first half of 2019, surpassing the likes of Japan, Australia, Canada, and the US, in that order, data by Shanghai-based property portal Juwai.com showed. Thailand also ranked first for Chinese buying inquiries in 2018, up from third in 2017.