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After a 10-year hiatus, Athakravi Group, developer of the on Rama IV Road, will build a 2-billion-baht community mall nearby.Suanplern Market, covering 11 rai opposite Maleenont Tower, will open in next year’s first quarter.Capt Atichart Athakravisunthorn, director of Athakravi subsidiary Athakehaputt Co, said the two-storey mall was designed under the “industrial loft” concept, replicating a railway station from bygone days.

With almost 10,000 square metres of space, more than 250 shops of all kinds will be featured including a Makro Food Service store occupying 600 sq m.The mall will have parking space for 300 cars and create 500 new jobs.Construction of Suanplern Market is 80% complete, while 60% of the retail space has been booked.”We recognise the growth potential in the Rama IV area,” Capt Atichart said.

Source:Bangkok Post

Above:Passengers wait for their flights at Suvarnabhumi’s departure hall. The airport processed 50.5 million air travellers between Oct 1, 2014 and Sept 15 this year.

Suvarnabhumi airport’s passenger throughput looks set to break a record of more than 52 million this year, exceeding its design capacity by 15%. Speaking on the occasion marking the airport’s ninth anniversary, which falls on Monday, Suvarnabhumi airport general manager Sirote Duangratan said on Friday the airport had handled more than 400 million passengers since its opening.

Between Oct 1, 2014 and Sept 15 this year, the airport processed 50.5 million passengers, up by 12.9% over the previous period. International passenger traffic surged 16% to 42.4 million while the domestic volume declined 0.77% to 8.13 million.

Combined aircraft movements in the period rose 5.91% to 298,459, consisting of 233,330 international (up 6.85%) and 65,129 domestic (up 2.68%). Cargo movements inched up 0.49% to 1.23 million tonnes, comprising 1.19 million tonnes for international (up 0.43%) and 39,137 tonnes for domestic (up 2.59%).

Mr Sirote said a strategy had been adopted to make Suvarnabhumi an international gateway in Asia Pacific for both passenger and cargo traffic. Efforts have focused on turning Suvarnabhumi into a transit hub accommodating connecting flights.

Suvarnabhumi also aims to become a certified hub for cargo transshipments in the region. To support the strategy, he said efforts have been made to ensure the second-stage expansion of the airport is carried out as planned.

Source: Bangkok Post

Golden Emperor Properties, in partnership with Sansiri, launched The Base Height in Hong Kong on the 17 – 18 Oct weekend. The project is situated in Phuket and the island is gaining popularity as an investment hotspot with the influx of shopping and entertainment centres that are gaining ground in the popular tourist destination. Over 100 clients attended the event over the weekend to learn more about this unique investment opportunity.

Above： Phuket is gaining in popularity as a shopping destination with the influx of shopping and entertainment centres gaining ground in the popular tourist hotspot

Above: The building model of The Base Height, a project by Sansiri in Phuket

Golden Emperor Properties, in partnership with Sansiri, launched The Base Park West project in Hong Kong on the 10 – 11 Oct weekend.

The Base Park West is situated in “T77″, Bangkok’s first master-planned community that comprises of premium residences, an international school, and a neighborhood mall – Habito. Over 400 clients attended the event over the weekend to learn more about this unique investment opportunity.

 

Above:High-rise buildings rim the Chao Phraya River. Analysts expect Bangkok’s condominium market to continue to grow for the rest of the year.

The Bangkok condominium market continued to grow in the second quarter, brushing aside concerns of spillover effects from the Thai economic downturn and rising household debt.

Supply from peripheral Bangkok areas dominated the market as their new launches constituted 73% of total supply, with scarcity and cost of land the main obstacles for developers, according to Risinee Sarikaputra, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank Chartered (Thailand).

Demand from affluent buyers remained strong as high-end condos with an average selling price of 150,000 baht a square metre from reputable developers in prime locations sold out in short order.

The segment with the slowest growth was mid-market condos located farther away from public transport.

Prices overall were still on the rise, especially for properties in the super-luxury market.

Bangkok condo supply at the end of the second quarter included 362,697 units, marking a 4.2% rise from the previous quarter and 23.9% increase from the year-earlier period.

So far in 2015, 34,439 units from 71 condo projects have been added to supply, of which 20,780 were from 37 projects launched in the second quarter alone.

Most launches were still in the peripheral Bangkok area, representing 73% of the second quarter’s new supply, followed by the city fringe area (21%) and the city area (6%).

Just 1,242 units were launched in the city area, due to scarcity and cost of land. Most new projects in the city are thus Grade A projects or better to justify prices, which factor in land costs.

Ms Risinee said a similar trend could be observed in the city fringe area, where new developments with access to mass transit systems have started to shift to the upper-end market to justify higher land costs.

Out of the seven projects launched in the city fringe, five were Grade A condo projects. In terms of units, 77% of the units in the area were Grade A.

Larger-scale condo projects were mostly developed in peripheral Bangkok, some in areas nearer to future transit stations such as Aspire Erawan, with 1,576 units, sitting 50 metres away from the Erawan Museum station due to open in 2020; and Lumpini Mix Theparak-Srinakarin with 2,041 units near the future Yellow Line.

Overall, the second-quarter take-up rate rose from the end of 2014, from 84% to 85.3%. By mid-year, 309,388 condo units out of 362,697 units were sold.

There were 53,309 units for sale, of which 38,163 were in peripheral Bangkok, whereas available units in the city fringe numbered 9,978 and those in the city area tallied 5,168.

Prices at newly launched condo projects continued to climb throughout Bangkok, but at different paces depending on location.

In the central business district (CBD), prices went up at a much faster rate because of land scarcity and an influx of super-luxury projects opening at prices above 250,000 baht a square metre. The latter included the Four Seasons Private Residence, Nimit Langsuan, Tela Thonglor and Q Sukhumvit.

The average selling price in the CBD was 212,588 baht a square metre in the second quarter, up 18.5% from a year earlier.

Similarly, the city fringe area saw a bigger increase in prices over the last
few periods. The average selling price
in this area was 127,578 baht a square metre in the second quarter, up 15.6% year-over-year.

Land costs near major roads and along mass transit routes were the main factor in rising prices. This was more pronounced on Ratchadaphisek Road, the home of the new Stock Exchange of Thailand complex and many big commercial developments, including the Central Rama IX shopping mall and Thailand’s soon-to-be-tallest skyscraper, the Super Tower.

The area of concern is peripheral
Bangkok, where many recently launched projects are overpriced in relation to comparable units in the city fringe area, where access to transport and the CBD is more convenient.

Source:Bangkok Post