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Above: Sansiri Plc is feeling more upbeat about the country’s overall property market in light of the government’s stimulus measures.

SET-listed developer Sansiri Plc is feeling more upbeat about the country’s overall property market in light of the government’s stimulus measures.

It expects its revenue to grow to 37 billion baht this year, outstripping an earlier forecast of 35 billion.

Sansiri senior executive vice-president Uthai Uthaisangsuk said a planned reduction in housing transfer fees from 2% to 0.02% and mortgage fees from 1% to 0.01% would help revitalise consumer confidence, which has been weak since early this year.

“The overall property market will depend largely on the government’s economic policy and spending on infrastructure, tourism industry promotion and export recovery,” he said yesterday. “We are now bottoming out.”

As of the end of September, Sansiri had housing inventory worth 11 billion baht ready to transfer and be realised as revenue. Single houses accounted for 4 billion baht while townhouses comprised 1 billion.

About 6 billion baht came from around 2,400 condo units with an average price of 2.5 million, with units worth 1 billion baht in Greater Bangkok and 5 billion in provinces.

Above: Sansiri senior executive vice-president Uthai Uthaisangsuk said the government should announce the tax incentives as soon as possible.

Mr Uthai said the government should announce the tax incentives as soon as possible because some customers started delaying their transfers last month.

“The incentives should have no limit on housing prices as people who have high purchasing power are in the middle-to-high-income segment. If the government wants to boost the property sector, it should push all market segments.”

With the tax incentives expected to be announced in the fourth quarter, Mr Uthai believes Sansiri’s revenue should be boosted by 1-2 billion baht this year.

The developer last month increased its presales target from 30 billion to 33 billion baht.

In a move to cut marketing costs, Sansiri has revamped its brand structure for the condo, single-house and townhouse segments since August.

It has reduced its number of brands for condos from 24 to four, for single houses from seven to five and for townhouses from five to four.

With fewer brands, Sansiri aims to cut marketing costs from 3% to 2% by the end of the year. That would enable it to increase its net profit margin from 8.41% in the first half, which was down from 11.5% in 2014.

In the fourth quarter, Sansiri will launch 10 projects worth a combined 21.5 billion baht, comprising five condo sites worth 13.5 billion and five single-house and townhouse projects worth a total of 8 billion.

It expects to have 12.5 billion baht in presales in the fourth quarter. In the first nine months, it achieved 20.5 billion in presales. The developer targets having 33 billion by the end of the year.

Source: Bangkok Post

China’s current national holiday, dubbed Golden Week, has pushed up the number of leisure travellers from Greater China to Thailand by 30% from the same period last year.

Aggregate arrivals from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan at Suvarnabhumi airport have reached 17,096 a day. Officials lump these arrivals into one count, although Taiwan does not mark the communists’ Golden Week celebrations.

The numbers of booked flights from those places to Suvarnabhumi, the main gateway for Chinese arrivals, leapt 35% to 907.

Those flights, on a charter or scheduled basis, are operated by 25 international airlines.

The figures sourced from Airports of Thailand Plc provide a clear picture of arrivals to Thailand from Greater China during one of the latter’s peak holidays.

The surge in arrivals has further underscored Thailand as one of Greater China’s favourite holiday destinations.

Indeed, it shows the segment’s resilience after the Aug 17 bombing at Bangkok’s Erawan Shrine killed 20 people including several Chinese tourists.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand estimates spending by arrivals from Greater China during the period at 4.3 billion baht.

In a Hotels.com survey from September 2014, Bangkok ranked third among mainland Chinese tourists’ top 10 Golden Week international travel searches, ahead of Phuket (sixth), Chiang Mai (eighth) and Koh Samui (10th).

The Association of Thai Travel Agents projects full-year Chinese arrivals to Thailand at 7 million.

Nadda Buranasiri, chief executive of long-haul budget carrier Thai AirAsia X, earlier shared a similar projection of 6-million-plus Chinese visitors. More than 4 million made their way to the country in the first half of the year.

The TAT has upgraded the country’s gross arrivals in 2015 to 29.9 million from a prior forecast of 28.8 million and expects income from tourism to reach 1.44 trillion baht, up from 1.4 trillion.

Source: Bangkok Post

Leading developer Sansiri has welcomed 30 people to a tenants meeting for its fresh community mall, Habito, which is planned for its T77 development in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Soi 77.

Using the marketing slogan: ‘Habito: The Heart of Good Living.’, the meeting was at the Sansiri Lounge in Siam Paragon was held to allow tenants to be a part of creating a new way of living at the project.

The five projects at T77 will boast 3,200 units with an expected number of residents exceeding 5,000 with a mix of Thai and international homeowners.

In a statement the company said: “The Bangkok Prep International School is preparing to launch in 2017, and the students and their guardians are our target, as well as the local residents in On Nut area.”

It added that some of the stores at Habito are co-working spaces under the brand ‘Hubba, the dynamic society for young generation’.

As well as banks, many well-known restaurants are expanding their branches at Habito, including Chef Man, a famous Chinese restaurant based at the  Eastin Grand Hotel, David’s Bakery, Muine Vietnamese Restaurant, Teien Sushi Bar, Saranhae Korean Restaurant, a popular Korean restaurant, and more.

A spokesman for Sansiri said: “Habito plans to officially launch about mid-year 2016 with a retail component of 10,000 sqm. Each store will range from 35 sqm to 700 sqm. The project is located between Sukhumvit 71 and Sukhumvit 77 and is valued THB 320 million.

“This project will definitely give ‘Good Living’ to everyone and deliver happiness to the public,” the spokesman concluded.

Source: Thailand Property

Sansiri unveils “Habito” – Bangkok’s newest feel-good community retail project where customers can delight in “The Good Life” from morning all the way until night

Sansiri has once again blazed a new trail by expanding its business portfolios to venture into the community retail business with the unveiling of “Habito: The Heart of Good Living” new-concept community retail project. The latest new business venture by Sansiri is anticipated to contribute to even better quality of life for people living in the expansive network of trendy residential and retail developments on Sukhumvit 77 road, the bustling neighbourhood now known as “T77” area. This exciting new project is co-created between “Sansiri” and “Winkreative”, a world-renowned creative agency, and together, they expect to build a groundbreaking community retail project dedicated to offering “feel-good lifestyle from morning until night” to everyone.

Mr. Apichart Chutrakul, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Board, Sansiri Plc., stated that, “After our great success in branching out to the hotel business last year, we are pleased to announce that Sansiri is now ready to venture into another exciting business – the community retail business.  We believe that this new area of business we are entering in can go a long way in supporting our core property development business. We have allocated an investment budget of 320 Million Baht to establish this business and we anticipate to generate approximately 40 Million Baht in revenue per year from the rental of commercial spaces in our community retail project at the rate of 750 – 1,500 Baht per sq.m. In this initial stage, such revenue may account for only 0.15% of our total revenue, but the true merits of this business lie in something more important – it allows us to offer ‘from morning until night a feel-good lifestyle’ to our Sansiri Family members in the burgeoning prime residential area of Sukhumvit 77. It will also contribute greatly to increasing the value of our future developments as well as the value of the land nearby.”

“We believe that, like in many major cities around the world, key residential areas in Bangkok will develop into small self-contained towns (cluster or district) within a big metropolis. Each area may have distinctive characteristics of its own, such as major neighbourhoods like Silom, Ramkhamhaeng, Ladphrao, Pinklao and On-nuch. Major developments will no longer be clustered in inner downtown areas such as Ploenchit or Pathumwan like they used to be in the past. Instead, they will continue to expand to other communities throughout Bangkok and beyond, especially areas along the routes of mass transit systems. So, it is important for home-seekers to note that, when they choose a home, they are also choosing the lifestyle they want to live in.”

“Sukhumvit 77 in recent years has emerged as one of Bangkok’s highly desirable residential neighbourhoods with a high growth potential, with easy links to other parts of the city via Sukhumvit Road, BTS Skytrain and Expressways. This location, at the same time, offers peaceful serenity from nearby natural waterways and green areas, making the area all the more appealing to many new-generation home-seekers. This is evident in the fact that the combined sales of Sansiri projects in this area have now reached 6,800 Million Baht. Such projects include ‘Blocs Sukhumvit 77’, ‘THE BASE Sukhumvit 77’, ‘THE BASE Park East Sukhumvit 77’, ‘THE BASE Park West Sukhumvit 77’ and ‘Garden Square Sukhumvit 77’, which is an upscale townhouse development with prices starting at 10 Million Baht. Also in this popular neighbourhood, we launched another low-rise 7-storey condominium project called ‘hasu HAUS’ in the mid of October 2014. With all of these projects combined, the total value of all Sansiri properties in this area will rise to 8,700 Million Baht, with the capacity to serve as many as 5,000 families.”

Mr. Apichart further noted that, “We believe that ‘Sukhumvit 77’ locations that are close to BTS Skytrain stations will continue to rise in both value and popularity, and, together, they will eventually develop into a major new preferred residential area in Bangkok in foreseeable future. Seeing this potential, Sansiri has decided to contribute to such growth by helping to develop this area into Bangkok’s newest hip lifestyle community and has given it a trendy name of ‘T77’. We will continue to develop more projects in this fast-growing area and offer unique lifestyle options that appeal to both Thais and foreigners who appreciate superior living in the Sansiri style.”

Mr. Uthai Uthaisangsuk, Senior Executive Vice President of Business Development & Project Development Division (High Rise), Sansiri Plc., revealed that, “Sansiri has collaborated with Winkreative, the international branding and design agency that is the sister company to Monocle magazine, the global media brand. Winkreative developed the unique concept for ‘Habito’, the community retail project. ‘Habito’ aspires to become a community retail project that is uniquely different, catering to the real needs and demands of its target consumers. We spent over two years in marketing research and analysing our competitors and business opportunities. We also travelled to Japan to visit over 10 leading community retail projects in Tokyo. And, here we are, ready to introduce ‘Habito: The Heart of Good Living’, Bangkok’s new feel-good community retail project where customers will delight in the good life from morning all the way until night.”

“The partnership with a world-class creative agency like Winkreative empowers us with the creative prowess that will help ensure that ‘Habito’ will be a community mall like no other – a true phenomenon in Thailand’s retail industry. We are also very selective in recruiting the right business partners to have their stores open at ‘Habito’, to ensure the ‘good quality of life’ we promise our customers.”

“In addition, a large share of the commercial spaces at ‘Habito’ will be occupied by co-working spaces, giving this community a distinctive vibe of professionalism, enthusiasm and creativity that will differentiate it from other community retail projects. This will help attract high-potential customers to ‘Habito’ all day long and not only during lunchtime or after work, contributing to the main concept of ‘Habito’ in offering ‘feel-good lifestyle from morning until night’ to everyone.”, added Mr. Uthai. “Habito” will be a 10,000-sq.m. community retail project located on a prime 4-rai land plot of T77, comprising a total of 32 stores with sizes ranging from 35 to 700 sq.m. The commercial spaces have been designed to be suitable for a wide range of businesses from restaurants to café, beauty salons, drugstores, as well as, co-working spaces.”

“One very strong point about ‘Habito’ is that it is open from morning all the way until night, offering many hours of convenience and leisure to customers every day. This is a place where you will always find something for everyone, and we want it to become a vibrant new community amidst the hustle and bustle of a big metropolitan like Bangkok.”, concluded Mr. Uthai.The construction of “Habito” is scheduled to commence in September 2014 and the official opening is planned to take place in November 2015.

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About Winkreative

Winkreative is an award-winning creative agency producing design, branding and publishing work for a roster of international clients. CEO and Chairman of Winkreative, Tyler Brûlé, is also Editor-in-Chief of Monocle magazine, the global media brand. Winkreative is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, and operates its creative studio in London with a successful branding and marketing campaigns for many internationally renowned brands including TAG Heuer, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, BlackBerry, Swiss International Airlines, British Airways and American Express.

Above:Will the upcoming change in mortgage tax rules ever slow the buy-to-let industry?

Summary:

• August sales of buy-to-let properties in the UK increased by over 50% against last year’s figures
• So far in 2015, £25.62 billion has been spent on buy-to-let assets
• Property investment in the UK is being driven by a huge supply and demand imbalance, especially in the ever-growing buy-to-let sector

Buy-to-let sales totalled £3.31 billion in August, increasing 54.1% over 2014’s figures.

According to Equifax Touchstone’s analysis, year-to-date buy-to-let sales in 2015 have reached £25.62 billion, which is a rise of 30.4% in comparison with last year’s figures.

Iain Hill, Relationship Manager at Equifax Touchstone, said after promising signs of growth in the buy-to-let lending market over the past 12 months, he expects the upward trajectory to continue in the short-to-mid-term future.

He said: “It’s promising to see sustained year-on-year growth. The current favourable market conditions, supported by low interest rates and the greater capacity for lenders to offer mortgages, have encouraged borrowers to enter the market.”

Given that many landlords were concerned about the summer Budget’s tax changes to buy-to-let mortgages, the upsurge in activity is encouraging for the industry. It shows the compelling logic that is underpinning investment in the UK real estate market.

Average yields across the UK residential sector in the last three months have grown to 6.4%. This has been driven by a 10% rise in private rental rates since the start of the year, while current sentiment among landlords points to returns increasing further going forward over the next 12 months.

Furthermore, earlier this month it was reported that property prices in the UK have hit an all-time high. The data from Rightmove revealed the average asking price of a residential property increased by 0.9% in September and now stands at £294,834.

Source: Select Properties