Thailand’s sprawling new economic corridor now offers $18.4bn worth of homes

Meteoric jump in number of firms across the kingdom’s eastern hub

Residential projects developed in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) have reached a combined value of THB561.21 billion (USD18.4 billion), according to the Government Housing Bank’s Real Estate Information Centre via The Nation.

The economic corridor, a gargantuan area spanning the provinces of Rayong, Chonburi and Chachoengsao, is home to 30,954 residential projects as of June. The projects represent some 185,179 units for sale.

Majority of the projects were concentrated in the province of Chonburi, hosting 664 projects or 136,273 residential units worth THB435.92 billion.

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Rayong follows with THB84.51 billion worth of homes (34,596 units) and Chachoengsao with THB40.78 billion (14,310 units).

Around 57,314 units worth a combined 102.6 billion baht were transferred to purchasers in 2018, up 20 percent from 2017, according to Real Estate Information Centre acting director-general Wichai Viratakaphan.

“We saw strong demand for homes in the EEC in 2017 and 2018, but growth was slight in the first half of this year after the Bank of Thailand introduced the loan-to-value policy, which directly affected demand in the property market across the country,” Wichai told The Nation.

Around 61,284 firms are licenced to operate in the EEC, a meteoric increase from the 6,800 listed in 2017, The Nation reported, citing a report from the Commerce Ministry. More than 10,800 of the firms are in the real estate sector.