Above:  The luxury condo market stay healthy in 2015.

While the luxury condo market stay healthy in 2015, the midtown and suburban segment faces peak supply completion, a wobbly economy, high personal debt and weaker spending power.

Actor Louis Koo appeared in seven movies in 2014 and was ranked the highest-paid celebrity in Hong Kong in 2014, with a reported income of HK$300 million ($52.2 million). The 44-year-old movie star topped a different chart — of the record-smashing kind — in Bangkok 2014 when he paid close to THB470,000 psm ($1,819 psf) for a 503 sq m (5,414 sq ft) penthouse at upscale condominium 185 Rajadamri. The price translates into THB236.4 million (HK$54.2 million or $9.4 million) for the penthouse with 270-degree views of Lumpini Park, Bangkok’s version of Central Park. It was the highest in terms of price psm achieved in Bangkok so far.

Above: Actor Louis Koo paid close to THB470,000 psm ($1,819 psf) for a 503 sq m (5,414 sq ft) penthouse at upscale condominium 185 Rajadamri.

There is an even bigger penthouse that is still available. Measuring 782.75 sq m (about 8,426 sq ft), it has five en suite bedrooms, two kitchens, a big column-free living and dining area, a 12m infinity lap pool, sauna room and indoor- outdoor entertainment area. The developer declined to disclose its price tag, saying “it’s upon request”.

Typical units at 185 Rajadamri range from 1,164 sq ft, two-bedroom apartments to four-bedroom duplexes of 3,751 sq ft. Prices start from THB40.4 million for a 1,361 sq ft two-bedroom unit to THB118.4 million for a four-bedroom duplex, according to its price list. Completed in 1Q2014, only 24 of the 265 units in the freehold luxury condo remain unsold.

When the project was launched in 2010, prices averaged THB220,000 psm; today, resale prices are THB310,000, says CBRE Global Research in a report.

Above:  185 Rajadamri was one of five properties that saw prices cross THB300,000 psm in 2014.

Developed by listed Thai property group, Raimon Land, 185 Rajadamri was one of five properties that saw prices cross THB300,000 psm in 2014. The other four condos were The Sukhothai Residences, located next to the Sukhothai Hotel by HKR International (the developer of Singapore’s Beaufort on Nassim and the former owner of Beaufort Hotel in Sentosa); Major Development’s Marque Sukhumvit 39; The Ritz Carlton Residences, which will be part of a mixed-use scheme in the 77-storey skyscraper MahaNakhon; and Magnolias Waterfront Residences at IconSiam by developer Magnolia Quality Development Corp.

These prices were not achieved for penthouses but larger condo units of all types, including a one-bedroom unit of more than 50 sq m (538 sq ft), points out James Pitchon, executive director and head of CBRE Research and Consulting, Thailand.

Two other luxury condos were launched in 2015 at an average price of THB300,000 psm. One was Pace Development Corp’s Nimit Langsuan, a 187-unit, 53-storey freehold condo tower located on Langsuan Road in Central Lumpini. Launched in 1Q2015, it has two- to four-bedroom apartments measuring 78 to 617 sq m, with prices ranging from THB25 million to THB250 million. The project is 95% sold.

Above: The Ritz Carlton Residences, which will be part of a mixed-use scheme in the 77-storey skyscraper MahaNakhon

The other was Country Group Development PCL’s Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River. The number of units sold was not disclosed, although the average price achieved was said to be THB300,000 psm. The project sits on a waterfront site leased from the Thai monarchy’s Crown Property Bureau on a 25-year lease, with two 25-year lease extensions thereafter.The starting prices of newly launched condo projects in the most prime downtown locations in 2015 are around THB200,000 to THB300,000 psm.

Source: The Edge Property