Prime property players love key drivers of prime pricing and one thing that over the past decade has blossomed into an industry is 'starchitecture'.
Be it Philippe Starck, Kerry Hill, Frank Gehry or Norman Foster, innovation clearly boosts selling prices and take up rates for residences employing a 'starchitect'.
We live in the age of the reality show, celebrity chef and why not have a take home entry for the rich and famous.
Of course the question does remain, whatever happened to former or function ? Howard Roark please call home.
Bangkok-based Pruska remain confident in the Phuket real estate sector.
Back of positive market sentiment they have brought out a new housing estate named The Palm Kathu Patong.
Featuring detached houses from 230 square meters with two stories, the entry point is THB8.9 million.
The tagline on location highlights the convergence of the Kathu and Patong areas in what is becoming a merged urban area for the island.
Famed Australian gourmet grocery store Jones The Grocer has opened in Bangkok.
The first outlet is open at the swank EmQuartier complex.
Key features of the offering is cheese or what the chain calls it's fromagerie.
Starting off as an artisan offering. Jones is now spreading it's wings quickly through Asia.
One of the island's most controversial prime oceanfront land parcels Freedom Beach may be destined to be a public park.
Accordingly to a recent press report in the Phuket Gazette the 69 rai disputed landholding in Tri Trang Patong is being eyed as a parkland by Patong Mayor Chalermluck Kebsup.
Currently the land which had been classified as Sor Por Kor land and later upgraded is under dispute in Thailand's Supreme Court.
Should the state win back the land, the government will press ahead on the conversion of the property.
Micro-units is a term now blossoming in urban and resort real estate in the West.
I was reading an article in Singapore's Business Times the other day about new prefabricated micro-studio units in New York City.
With sizing from 24 to 34 square meters the units can work in buildings built in areas where zoning bars larger structures.
City zoning has prohibited units smaller then 37 square meters in certain areas since the 1980's.
Economic issues and a housing shortage are now pressing the issue and micro seems to be a macro solution.
As for a Phuket paradigm, the New York sizing seems almost spacious compared to the rising tide of 18-20 square meter condominiums flooding the market.
A fast rail connection between Singapore and Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur is edging closer to reality.
Press reports indicate that project financing issues are being hammered out and this will pave way for a clear development path forward.
The high-speed rail link between the two gateway cities is estimated to be a mere ninety minutes.
Currently the trip by plane is an hour but then there is the issue of a train or automobile trip to KL's airport which takes another half an hour.
Singapore's terminus is likely to be Jurong East which will certainly stimulate more hotel and residential projects in the catchment area.
Phuket's condominium market is seeing two distinct price drivers.
Using data from property platform FazWaz.com the three top areas of the island in terms of pricing per square meter are Patong, Kalim and Mai Khao.
Pricing per square meter for all was in over THB157,000 per square meter.
Surprisingly Bangtao, Surin, and Kata fall well under this level with a range of THB100,000 to 125,000 per square meter.
Conversely across the broader Phuket condominium sector the median price per square meter for sea view units is THB131,340 versus THB92,367 for non-sea view units.
Of course absolute selling prices are correlated with the typical sea view unit priced at nearly THB12 million and the average for non-sea view ranking in close to THB4.5 million.
What remains unclear though is how the relationship of view equates to capital appreciation, though historically there has continued to be sustained demand for premium units which are limited in supply and have strong locations.
To view data on Phuket's condominium market visit <link>http://www.fazwaz.com*CLICK</link>
Be it the promise of the AEC initiative or a prolonged Asian real estate surge but Thailand's leading retail firms are increasingly viewing overseas opportunities.
At the forefront of the movement is Central, The Mall Group and hypermarts Big C, and Index.
Most of the current drive is into nearby locations where a broad middle class consumer set is rapidly evolving such as Malaysia and Indonesia.
Though the retail footprint in Thailand is mounting, local retails are mitigating business risk by investing domestically and internationally.
I've just read an article in Singapore's Business Times about mounting concern over the growing market of London Ghost property.
The trend is tagged "buy-to-leave" and is in a nutshell driven by foreign real estate buyers speculating on capital appreciation of upscale London apartments.
While a mounting segment of end-users are scrambling with find rentals, a legion of properties are being kept vacant for longer-term flipping.
There is pressure on local-government authorities to place restrictions on owners to either occupy or else rent out their units.
Over the past three to four years Phuket has experienced a ramp up of small cheap apartments and it's likely that supply and demand will see the island have it's very own 'buy-to-leave' issue in the short term once these projects complete and handover.
