News

Above: Mega Home’s five-year plan entails investing up to 10 billion baht to open up to 20 stores.

Mega Home Center Co, a subsidiary of SET-listed Home Product Center Plc, plans to invest up to 1 billion baht to launch two new stores in the Northeast to serve rising demand for construction materials, says chief operating officer Supornsri Naktanasukanjn.

“One new store will be located in Nakhon Ratchasima and another somewhere next to the province,” she said. The company’s goal is to open 11 new Mega Home stores in Thailand this year.

Mega Home’s five-year plan (2014-19) entails investing up to 10 billion baht to open up to 20 stores. There are nine current branches in Mae Sot, Nong Khai, Chon Buri, Sa Kaeo and Rangsit.

Above:  As demand for construction materials in the area has risen because of the government’s policy to invest in infrastructure.

Recently Mega Home opened a new store in Hat Yai in Songkhla province, the company’s first in the South. The outlet received a warm welcome from customers, as demand for construction materials in the area has risen because of the government’s policy to invest in infrastructure as well as its policy to lend soft housing loans for villagers to stimulate the economy, said Ms Supornsri.

“The company expects total revenue to exceed our target of 6.4 billion baht this year thanks to government investment projects that have helped stimulate demand,” she said.

Most customers of Mega Home are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and local companies.

“Demand for construction materials from SMEs and local companies continues to grow, while people also want to renovate their residences,” Ms Supornsri said. “Those are positive factors that help support the company.”

Above:  Demand for construction materials from SMEs and local companies continues to grow.

But sales in the third quarter will be down slightly because of seasonal rain, she said.

The Construction Institute of Thailand, a subsidiary of the Industry Ministry, reported that total investment value in the construction sector for the first quarter this year was 315 billion baht, up 8.3% from the same period last year.

The investment value for the construction sector for the full year is projected at 1.16 trillion baht.

Above: Most customers of Mega Home are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and local companies.

Source: Bangkok Post

Above: Bangkok’s traffic is notorious, meaning property prices with good access links are automatically higher.

Bangkok will open the new Purple Line tomorrow from Bang Yai to Tao Pun, in the first of the mass transit lines planned to be opened every year in the Thai capital from 2016 through 2020.

This development comes as the Thai government is studying the feasibility of 10 more lines throughout the Greater Bangkok area, in a bid to spread property growth more evenly throughout the metropolis.

“Bangkok’s central business districts will keep growing, but at a slower pace as the new mass transit lines will change the city’s landscape and boost new developments in the outskirts,” Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said.

Land prices increased 9.6 percent on average last year along the route from Tao Pun to Bang Yai. Meanwhile, prices along the Blue Line routes from Tha Phra to Bang Khae and Bang Sue saw prices jump 10.52 percent on average, while those along the Red Line route from Bang Sue to Taling Chan increased 1.9 percent.

A bus service will temporarily shuttle passengers between the Purple Line’s Tao Pun station to the Blue Line’s Bang Sue station. The Mass Rapid Transit Authority is still looking for contractors to build a link between the stops.

In a 2011 report, Knight Frank predicted that residential demand for condominiums in Bangkok’s suburbswill grow after mass transit lines connect the central business district to outlying ones.

Source: Property Report

Chevron is committed to its Thailand investments despite job cuts that have spurred rumours of the US oil major’s exit, and may keep a Myanmar gas field stake if no attractive offer is made for the asset, an executive said in a statement on Friday.

The US oil major – the country’s largest oil and gas producer, supplying more than one-third of its natural gas demand – operates several exploration and production blocks in the Gulf of Thailand.

Its main concessions at the Erawan gas field and nearby blocks are due to expire in 2022, with the government planning to put them up for auction next year.

“The core assets that we operate in the Gulf of Thailand are a core part of Chevron’s portfolio and we have intention of it remaining a core part of our portfolio. We are not leaving Thailand,” Stephen Green, president of Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration and Production said in the statement.

The government decided earlier this year to put up for auction oil and gas contracts expiring in 2022-2023 after activists had protested a proposal to extend the concessions with existing operators.

Chevron and other license holders will be able to participate in the sales, and if no other bidders surface, then Bangkok will negotiate extensions of the concessions with them.

A Chevron spokeswoman said separately that the company has not decided if it will participate in any auction, and that “they are willing to work with the government”.

Chevron and its partners aim to invest more than 100 billion baht ($2.9 billion) in 2016 for projects in the Gulf of Thailand, and are on average drilling 300-400 wells each year to maintain production levels, according to the statement.

Chevron has also put its Myanmar gas block stakes worth an estimated $1.3 billion up for sale. Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production Plc has said it is keen to make the purchase.

The offering includes Chevron’s 28.3% stake in Yadana, one of three major gas fields in Myanmar that supply to Thailand, which uses natural gas for nearly 70% of its power generation.

“We are focusing our resources on our operated assets. We’re happy to keep it if the market value of it is not what we think it should be,” Green said in the statement.

Chevron this year laid off more than 800 staff and contractors in Thailand to cut $500 million in costs to weather the fall in global oil prices.

Chevron Thailand now employs about 1,600 staff and another 1,300 contractors, the statement said.

Source: Bangkok Post

Above: Chinese buyer interest in a given location by tracking their online property hunting activities.

Thailand has seen a significant increase in investor interest from China over the past year, according to Juwai.com, the Chinese international property portal.

The explanation for the soaring demand can be attributed to the travel bug.

“The rapid growth in tourism is contributing to growing Chinese real estate investment,” says Charles Pittar, CEO of Juwai.com, noting that Thailand ranked sixth among the list of countries that Chinese travellers would like to visit this year, above the likes of France and Singapore.

Above: Thailand has seen a significant increase in investor interest from China over the past year.

While enquiries for all the top Thai destinations have grown significantly over the past year, two destinations in particular stand out.

“The real battle over the past 12 months has been between Bangkok and Pattaya,” Pittar said. “Today, Pattaya property receives about twice as many buyer leads as Bangkok property.”

From the second quarter of 2015 through the second quarter of 2016, Pattaya climbed from 100 to 209 on the Juwai.com Chinese Purchasing Intent Index, which measures Chinese buyer interest in a given location by tracking their online property hunting activities. The city has attracted the most number of enquiries among all locations in Thailand.

The Thai capital, however, soared from 100 to 296 on the index, which means it has the fastest growth in the number of enquiries.

Above: The Chinese Purchasing Intent Index has reportedly grown more than twice for the top five Thai destinations over the past year.

It’s a remarkable turnaround in general for the kingdom, which has turned off Chinese buyers since political upheavals rocked the kingdom in 2014. The Chinese Purchasing Intent Index has reportedly grown more than twice for the top five Thai destinations over the past year.

So why are Chinese buyers so enamored with Thailand now?

To the Chinese, Pittar explains, Thailand is “a welcoming, nearby country with an attractive lifestyle at an affordable price point,” also noting that Chinese nationals represent 27 percent of all tourist visas in Thailand, a 60 percent increase from the previous year.

The low cost of living has also been a draw for China’s real estate buyers.

In a survey, Juwai.com found that buyers who have inquired about Thailand have a budget of USD241,000 on average, as opposed to the worldwide average budget of USD700,000.

Above: The low cost of living has also been a draw for China’s real estate buyers.

Source: Property report

Above: A series of bomb attacks will have only a temporary impact on the Thailand economy.

BANGKOK — Thailand’s gross domestic product growth came in at a better-than-expected 3.5% year on year for the quarter ended June thanks to robust tourism coupled with an improving agriculture sector that had been suffering from severe drought and low commodity prices.

Tourism once again expanded quickly while exports remained weak. The National Economic and Social Development Board kept its annual forecast of 3.0-3.5% growth unchanged, but edged the median target up to 3.4% from the previous 3.3%.

Above: The expansion came amid rising incomes for farmers.

A series of bomb attacks on Aug. 11 and 12 that hit several of the country’s well-known resorts, including Phuket, Krabi and Hua Hin, will have only a temporary impact on the economy and will not affect the full-year figures, Porametee Vimolsiri, deputy secretary-general of the NESDB, told reporters in Bangkok on Monday.

Instead, Porametee said, the national referendum held just a few days before the blasts — in which the public voted in favor of a military-backed constitution, paving the way for a general election in late 2017 — points to a stable political outlook and is a positive for economic growth.

Above:  Porametee Vimolsiri, deputy secretary-general of the NESDB said a stable political outlook and is a positive for economic growth.

For the second quarter, private spending rose 3.8%, compared with a 2.3% climb the previous quarter. The expansion came amid rising incomes for farmers due to the end of a long drought and the first rise in agricultural prices in 10 quarters.

Above: Thailand’s gross domestic product growth came in at a better-than-expected 3.5% year on year for the quarter ended June thanks to robust tourism coupled.

Source: Nikkei Asian Review