One of Greater Phuket's most dynamic property markets of the past eight years has suffered a setback with the introduction of a new Ministerial Regulation which came into effect July 3.
Thailand's Ministry of the Interior has taken steps to cool off skyrocketing land prices and development of luxury villas and hotels in an area often referred to as 'over the bridge.' In this case the new Act is directed at the west coast area of southern Phang Nga province from Kok Kloy, Natai, Tah Sai, Bo Dan and Thai Muang.
With its close 15-20 minute driving distance from Phuket International Airport on wide roads and an expanding four lane Sarasin Bridge the prime area has been driven by property buyers who want absolute ocean front land, which is for the most part unavailable in Phuket.
Some of the area's most expensive luxury villas are located in the Natai strip including Jivana, Sava, California WOW fitness entrepreneur Eric Levine's mega residence. Boutique upscale resort Aleenta was an early arrival and high profile ongoing developments such as Similan Beach, A Ritz-Carlton Retreat and Richard Li's 1000 rai destination mixed use resort in Thai Muang have added glitter to the offering.
Under the new regulations a reduction in plot ratio's, restrictions on subdivisions and designations of large forest preservation areas and protected agricultural parcels looks set to impact large scale land speculation.
The Act has an effective period of 5 years and there remains speculation over whether Phuket itself could see new similar guidelines. In the short term in all likelihood the area will continue to attract million dollar villas and become more of a bedroom community for Phuket but certainly a critical mass of hotels and larger residential estates who are keen to enter the market will face challenges. Some sites such as Thai Muang who have substantial green areas will be able to cope with plot ratio issues more then small sized parcels.
Area's north of Thai Muang including Tap Lamu, Khao Lak, and Takuapa are not covered in the guidelines and may seen new land transactions as speculators move to other areas which have west coast ocean front land.
Leading international law firm Mayer Brown JSM has issued a legal update on the new Act that can be viewed at:
<link>http://www.mayerbrown.com/publications/article.asp?id=9381&nid=6*Mayer Brown JSM Legal Update</link>
An email which has been circulating throughout the island which said international property firm Knight Frank was shutting down their Phuket office due to financial reasons is an apparent hoax.
We spoke to respected KF Managing Director Phanom Kanjanathiemthao at their head office in Bangkok who said a series of malicious emails sent through Yahoo and Hotmail accounts which had his name attached were fraudulent.
He reiterated that the firm has no plans to discontinue operations on the island and is taking a long term view of real estate here as a solid business proposition.
Identity theft and rising internet business sabotage are unfortunately on the rise and for many the message is clear, to always check the facts.
For astute readers of the Phuket Gazette a number have picked up a public notice published that Director's Errol Salih and Selwyn Casey are no longer associated with Club Lersuang Co., Ltd..
For island property the Lersuang debacle continues to create angst amongst purchasers of the Turtle Cove, Infinity Heights and Lersuang Village projects. Tamarind Hills is under rehabilitation attempts by Sepco Asia. In the meantime there remain few answers for investors in the other three properties except quotes in the press that the global financial downturn led to the demise of the group.
Recently journalist Andrew Drummond who runs a news site wrote about the associated collapse of the Hua Hin Country Club project in which English football star Joe Cole was reportedly an investor in. The story makes an interesting read and can be viewed at <link>http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2010/07/20/3260/*Hua Hin Country Club Story</link>
While for the most part the Phuket real estate industry has seen few defaults even during the voliatile political and enonomic times of late, this episode continues to cast a dark shadow over the sector. For the moment the most unfortunatle victims in this story were the purchasers who have not received either the product purchased or compensation for money put down.
Phuket has seen a mushrooming of large retail shopping complex's such as Central Festival, Jungceylon and the new entry of many smaller urban malls like Home Pro Village and Lotus Express.
After the success of Allan Zeman's Plaza Surin offering, now the developers of The Explorer Phuket are looking to emulate the higher end of the spectrum with The Explorer Phuket.
In the first phase are 31 three story units, priced at THB 15 million with a total floor area of approximately 237.50 square meters.
Island property firm SEA Property International have been engaged as sole agent.
The offering is going to be an acid test of pricing for the location which is near the entrance of Laguna Phuket and will determine the actual appetite for businesses willing to invest this amount into a long term business proposition
This one had us scratching our heads, exactly what is 'foo' and where do we find it.
First stop was the idea that perhaps the writer got a call as he was typing and the word food and somehow lopped off the letter 'd'. No such luck.
Whirling around the thought process of course for the world of MTV we have the Foo Fighters but now that's all too easy.
Looking at slanglish, there remains the phase 'foo foo' which is a bit of a knick -knack and no apparent value.
We go backward to of course the Foo Fighters and learned this was coined during WW2, the last great war and pilots used the singular 'foo fighter' term to describe unexplained sighting or even UFO's.
Rounding this up is the last stray in a cattle drive, in this case it does amazingly relate to the subject of this site, it's a newish christened property term that stands for "feeling of opulence."
Nai Thon's Istana luxury villa project is using it as its marketing tag and frankly it's a great lead in. So that's the word on FOO.
One of Hua Hin's key economic growth targets is its surge in property development. While results to date have been mainly in domestic content which has been substantial aided by the relatively short drive time from Bangkok for local residents; now there is a focus on attracting more international buyers.
One of the key demand drivers remains quality healthcare for the retirement and second home market which now sees the Bangkok Hospital Group investing a reported THB 700 million for the 60 bed facility.
Opening is planned for 2011.
On the heels of the Government initiative of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's sweeping land tax reform it has been announced that an aerial survey will be conducted thought out all of Thailand.
Key to this will be the ability to identify classifications on land deemed to be used for agriculture purposes and protection of public land.
Secondly the tool will aid in the continuing battle over encroachment into forest areas which have continued to be decimated by illegal tree cutting and erection of structures in these areas.
Estimates by the Finance Ministry have estimated that 70% of the private land holdings in the country are simply being land banked and not developed.
One of Asia's leading catalysts for growth remains a region wide surge in property. For hotel chains be they large, small or in-between an active development pipeline is often the difference between expansion or retraction.
A continuing sign of anxious property developers looking to increase sales pace is the phenomenon of branded residences.
Now Mandarin Oriental has embraced the trend back of an agreement to manage 56 residences which are part of their Macau hotel. The chain now has 14 hospitality led residential projects spanning the globe.
Coming from a recent trip to Bangkok the impressive St Regis luxury hotel and attached residences look to add to the impressive Rajadamri upscale offering of the well established Grand Hyatt Erawan, Four Seasons and now the new kid on the block.
With 53 residential units ranging from 4 bedrooms in 320square meters up to premium units including duplex pool penthouse units at 920 square meters. All units are sold on a single 30 year leasehold basis.
Access at the BTS skytrain station immediately in front of the property and walking distance to the key shopping and commercial area is key along with nearby spacious Lumpini Park for a breath of fresh air.
