$currentBlogObj.title

<img alt="AI, one of the great disruptive forces in the real estate sector. Adam Vilimek/Shutterstock" src="/documents/10204/0/shutterstock_166675769-compressor.jpg/fd0709af-2559-42ad-9d07-0b541e8da06e?t=1543311897987" style="width: 1000px; height: 667px;" />Jobs and machines have coexisted for millennia. But when the wheel and axle begin to behave more like their makers, perhaps it is time to bring out the ultimate contingency: playing up the quintessentially human ability to make decisions instead of doing repetitive tasks. Artificial intelligence is imperilling the livelihood of real estate agents. By 2020, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/01/02/why-artificial-intelligence-will-eliminate-millions-of-sales-jobs/" target="_blank">a million B2B salespeople</a> will lose their jobs to AI, according to Forrester. It has been a source of trepidation for salespeople in Asia Pacific alone, where AI-powered services now constitute 10 percent of the real estate industry. Meanwhile, a survey by Hubspot showed that 47 percent of consumers are now open to buying items through chatbots, which have been deemed to be efficient at automating appointment bookings. Search engines are one area where real estate players have embraced the perks of machine learning, or the application of AI on systems so they can improve from experience as opposed to being programmed. Earlier this year, Singapore-based tech giant PropertyGuru underwent a successful brand refresh, launching websites and mobile apps with machine learning algorithms that recognise behavioural cues and thereby predict consumers’ preferred homes and even content. “The biggest challenge today in the property sector is the matching of supply and demand,” said Hari Krishnan, CEO of PropertyGuru, which mounted the 2018 <a href="http://asiarealestatesummit.com" target="_blank">Asia Real Estate Summit</a> in November. “When a developer builds real estate, how do they match it to a property seeker?   “Platforms like us, coupled with artificial intelligence, are going to help the efficiency of that matching. Artificial intelligence underpins PropertyGuru’s platform itself, so I’m a big fan of it.” But a full-on robot uprising, this is not. The disintermediation of real estate, or the reduction in the use of intermediaries between developers and consumers, should foreseeably transpire in ways that will not completely devalue human insight.  <a href="http://www.property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-proptech-right-now-with-jll-s-george-thom-9" target="_blank">More: 5 questions for JLL's George Thomas</a> “It is untrue that the property agents will be disintermediated completely. Our view is that the property agents will now play a slightly different role,” said George Thomas, chief information officer and head of technology, data and information management for Asia Pacific at JLL, on the sidelines of the PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit. “Given that the data collected within real estate is quite nuanced, it is going to require quite a bit of interpretation. Who better to interpret that than the subject matter experts in that space? At this point in the proptech evolution, technologies cannot stand independently of the business processes tied to them. “It is one thing for the technology to say, for example, that the bathroom needs cleaning. It is another for us to coordinate with a variety of different providers to make sure the bathrooms are cleaned periodically. Connecting the business process to the technology will remain important forever,” said Thomas. For agents raring for lead time in adapting to the times, machines are, fortunately, still not advanced enough to think for themselves. Real estate players today are more likely using augmented, rather than artificial, intelligence, synonymous with data-driven machine learning, said Thomas. Meanwhile, the construction sector, a crucial component of the real estate value chain, remains one of <a href="http://property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/digitalisation-of-construction-taking-building-productivity-into-the-fut-11" target="_blank">the least digitised sectors in the world</a>.  “It is quite important for agents to realise it is less about disintermediation and more about the job profile changing a bit,” said Thomas.

AI and machine learning: how property agents can survive the great job destroyers

<img alt="'Smart city' has been a subjective concept for many countries. Elnur/Shutterstock" src="/documents/10204/0/shutterstock_1235599819-compressor.jpg/3ad9b24a-a2bd-4219-ad8e-777ddf879f5e?t=1542946052016" style="width: 1000px; height: 667px;" />In the current hubbub around urban planning, two words occupy prime real estate: smart cities.  <div> Every city aspires to be called one. From India to <a href="http://www.property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/songdo-trailblazer-or-cautionary-tal-6" target="_blank">South Korea</a>, property developments and government missions have either attempted building smart cities from the ground up or groomed existing urban hubs to be billed as such, often with mixed results.   </div> <div> Policymakers and urban planners have struggled to come up with a unified definition for a smart city, with variable parametres on what makes a city intelligent. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a lot of fanfare in 2015 when he announced his Smart Cities Mission, before admitting that he did not know what the term exactly meant.   </div> <div> Having analysed more than 100 definitions related to smart cities, the International Telecommunication Union in 2014 arrived at this definition: “A smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses ICTs and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social and environmental aspects.” </div> <div> “‘Smart city’ is just a buzzword. All we’re using is technology to improve a situation which is what we’ve always done for a long time,” said Charles Reed Anderson, founder of Charles Reed Anderson & Associates, in a panel discussion on smart cities around Asia Pacific at the <a href="http://asiarealestatesummit.com" target="_blank">PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit</a> in November. </div> <div> “In reality, this is no different than the other things we experienced in the past. We’re just using it now for a city. As of right now, I don’t think there are already smart cities. I think there are cities that are good at marketing themselves as smart cities.”  </div> <div> As a qualifier, “smart” is even more relative in Asia Pacific where cities either display extreme wealth or crippling poverty. One’s idea of a smart urban development in an obscure Indian town may be basic in Dubai, for example.   <img alt="The panel on smart cities from around Asia Pacific consisted of (from left to right) Charles Reed Anderson, Founder, Charles Reed Anderson & Associates; Joelle Chen, Regional Head, Asia Pacific, World Green Building Council, Singapore; Dr. Okan Geray, Strategic Planning Advisor, Smart Dubai; Adam Beck, Executive Director, Smart Cities Council, Australia & New Zealand; and Terry Blackburn, Founder & Managing Director, Asia Property Awards, Property Report, Asia Real Estate Summit, PropertyGuru Group" src="/documents/10204/0/44973478375_b63eca3b3e_b-compressor.jpg/f0644759-8e19-4473-9e56-3bdd8d990cc7?t=1542946828806" /> </div> <div> “We talk about smart cities as if it’s a zero or one thing: you’re either a smart city or not a smart city. But everywhere I go, the context is so different; aspects of cities are so incredibly different from each other,” said Dr. Okan Geray, strategic planning advisor for Smart Dubai, an initiative which aims to make Dubai the world's smartest city.    </div> <div> “I really believe the challenges faced by each and every city is very different. We try to put them in all in the same basket, but it is very difficult. The issues [other cities] face in terms of housing, mobility—some have no roads, no transportation—these are not really the same issues that we face in Dubai." “What is a ‘good city’? What is a ‘smart city’? A lot of the emerging economies are still at the level of defining what is a good city,” said Singapore-based Joelle Chen, regional head, Asia Pacific for the World Green Building Council.   </div> <div class="pull-quotes-container">A smart city has got to be productive, got to be healthy, got to be efficient. When you start looking at the health and wellbeing metric in a building, you start thinking about how productive you are in a space</div> <div> Perhaps a smart city is really the sum of its parts, in that it would be remiss of urban planners to not think of it as an amalgam of sustainable, intelligent buildings.   </div> <div> “If you think about it, the buildings themselves are almost the micro-version of the cities. Anything that we think about in terms of the city itself, whether it’s mobility, food issues, energy, healthcare, or education to a certain extent—all of them are manifesting themselves in the micro-environment of buildings,” said Geray.   </div> <div> <a href="http://property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/digitalisation-of-construction-taking-building-productivity-into-the-fut-11" target="_blank">More: How digitalisation of construction will take builder productivity into the future</a> One major metric the World Green Building Council has used to determine the intelligence of a city is citizen wellbeing by way of indoor air quality. The quality of air within buildings has had an underrated impact on cognitive function, seeing as humans breathe 15,000 litres of air every day as opposed to drinking about three litres of water.   </div> <div> "For me, a smart city has got to be productive, got to be healthy, got to be efficient. When you start looking at the health and wellbeing metric in a building, you start thinking about how productive you are in a space,” Chen said, exhorting developers to create more carbon-neutral portfolios in time for 2030, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) deadline for preventing climate change catastrophe.  </div> <div> “Buildings are meant for people. Otherwise, buildings will be weapons of mass destruction."  </div> <div> The Smart Cities Council - Australia & New Zealand, in partnership with the Green Building Council of Australia, released last month the Code for Smart Communities, which parses smart urban developments for property developers and technologists. The code attempts to encapsulate smart communities in a range of principles: strategic, connected, aware, responsive, and innovative.  <div class="pull-quotes-container">The green building movement is one of the most transformational movements in history</div> “The hard work that nobody has never done yet is put metrics around those,” said Adam Beck, the council's executive director. “We really started giving the development industry and the property sector some tangible metrics to define those ideas.”  In Australia, developers may not build premium-grade commercial buildings in a major city unless it is rated by Green Star, the national and voluntary rating system for buildings and communities.  “The green building movement is one of the most transformational movements in history,” said Beck. "It took a little while to get going because of the pushback. There was no demand for it. Twenty-three years later, we’ve seen a global movement. It’s been absolutely phenomenal.”  <a href="http://property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/state-of-the-economy-a-conversation-with-the-economist-s-andrew-stapl-5" target="_blank">More: A conversation with The Economist's Andrew Staples</a> <div> Use cases are often overlooked in the thrust toward becoming a smart city, an omission Taipei is ameliorating in its own urban development project. The city’s Smart City Project Management Office (PMO) has interviewed 30,000 citizens to understand their desires for the city and talked to around 400 different ICT vendors to deliver those solutions. Such synergies between public servants and IT players have resulted in around 135 proofs-of-concept, ranging from smart streetlights to autonomous vehicles, with Taipei as their test bed.   </div> <div> “Don’t get me wrong; a lot of them will fail but at least they’re experimenting and trying to identify these new use cases,” Anderson said.   </div> <div> “What we’re lacking in smart cities is the experimentation because we don’t know the use cases. We know we can do infrastructure-centric solutions but not citizen-centric ones.”  <img alt="Panel discussion on smart cities from around Asia Pacific was staged on the second and final day of the PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit 2018" src="/documents/10204/0/45886676671_898043490e_b-compressor.jpg/ce4a827a-2800-44d6-a4a4-beb2d44627d4?t=1542947265346" /> </div> <div> Dubai has been similarly people-oriented, having regularly put out questionnaires that ask its cosmopolitan, expatriate-dominated populace: what makes them happy? In its quest to become “the happiest city on earth”, Smart Dubai has identified and sought to digitise roughly 75 “customer journeys” or experiences crucial to the daily lives of residents, from education and health to so much as taking the taxi.    </div> <div> “What we see in smart city projects today, you have almost standard, cookie-cutter solutions being applied across the board to any city. I don’t think that’s a very scaleable approach,” Geray said.   </div> <div> The emirate’s interrogatory efforts managed to wrest a common thread from those experiences: the need to truncate paper-based processes in the government. The Dubai Paperless Strategy was launched last year as a result, aiming to make procedures in the emirati government paper-free by December 2021.   </div> <div> In a way, developing smart cities rely on counterintuition, having technology take a backseat to the people. Urban planners need to reverse-engineer a community’s vision of utopia, strip them to a set of desired outcomes, and define key performance indicators of initiatives working toward them.    </div> <div> “It’s like working backwards from the concept of happiness and then coming up with solutions, not starting with asking: ‘How can I apply technology on the city?’ It should be the other way around. The needs of the city’s inhabitants are very important,” Geray said.    </div> <div> “After all, ‘what is the city but the people?’”  </div> </div>

Smart cities in Asia Pacific: lessons, challenges, opportunities

<img alt="Monito/Flickr" src="/documents/10204/0/fintech-lead-compressor.jpg/34074e7f-7de5-44d4-b474-e37736baf4d5?t=1542713761735" style="width: 1128px; height: 667px;" /> Capital raising has become one of the more exciting spaces in the real estate industry as the phenomenon of sophisticated fintech or financial technologies muscles into the picture.  The intricacies of fintech have had significant corollaries on the very manner in which property is owned and transacted. "The catchphrase for real estate is no longer 'location, location, location.' It’s now 'technology, technology, technology,'" said Benedict Andrew Lim, managing director for Southeast Asian real estate at Ernst & Young, who moderated the panel discussion on fintech at the <a href="http://asiarealestatesummit.com" target="_blank">PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit</a> earlier this month. But it bears reminding that fintech, for all the innovations it brings to real estate, is nothing new. “Fintech or financial technology has been around for a long time,” said Dr. Florian M. Spiegl, co-founder and COO of the Hong Kong-based company FinFabrik.  “In fact, if you go all the way back to the 1880s, we moved from sending money cross-country on horse carriages to actually wiring money. That was fintech.”   Contemporary fintech, however, is an entirely different ballgame—a movement that hatched concurrently with the arrival of the iPhone, and mobility, for that matter, in the late 2000s, Spiegl noted.   “We’re moving from going to the banks and falling in line to making payments on your mobile,” fintech advisor and panellist Phonpimol Pathomsak said. “People who in the past never had access to loans and financial services could now get them more easily. Everything is in a mobile phone.” What follows are some of the more salient points we gleaned from the panel: 1. Rising digitisation of property ownership                                                                           With the world's real estate valued at USD280.6 trillion as of last year, a significant portion of that is going to be up for tokenisation or the process of representing the ownership of real world assets digitally on a blockchain, according to Christopher J. Marriott, CEO for Southeast Asia at Savills. Tokenisation makes the selling of property more fluid, rendering obsolete those days when a physical deed or certificate is the only thing that can pass for proof of ownership. Tokenisation plays out like "writing the content of those certificates into the smart contract of the token, plus digitising the actual document,” Spiegl explained. “Imagine the token not just representing ownership of that asset but the entire legal history that can be disclosed of that asset. Once you have a dual structure — the physical-world representation of ownership and the digital-world representation — you can’t detach the two. You can add liquidity to the digital element, very easily transact it.” <h4>2. Nascent regulatory frameworks</h4> Regulatory and legal frameworks still hamper fintech from flourishing more than it already has. For now, fintech sits firmly within the sphere of financial services capital markets; existing rules apply. For example, Hong Kong’s SFC recently issued a statement requiring a type 149 licence of asset managers dabbling in cryptocurrencies, at par with other securities, noted Spiegl.   Singapore is also working on the regulatory framework for asset backed-securities, which represent the tokenisation of a real estate asset over equity and debt, said Marriott.  "Within that there’s a real need to look at the token structure and the smart contract that effectively is what gets you listed for sale. All of the regulation around that is in a very primitive stage," Marriott stated. "Both the manufacturers, those people trying to create the token, and the regulators are debating how that can be done." "Regulators are still getting into this space," Spiegl noted. "They're still aiming to understand they dynamics of it. And their job is to protect the end consumers. The whole industry is looking forward to how regulators can give us the rules so we know what to comply with and build businesses that are robust and put end consumers first." <a href="http://www.property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-proptech-right-now-with-jll-s-george-thom-9" target="_blank">More: 5 questions for JLL's George Thomas</a> 3. Asset-backed securities vs. cryptocurrencies Enthusiasts in the fintech space are getting excited over asset-backed securities and the fact that they can create representation of ownership of an asset on a blockchain protocol. "Asset-backed security is not a cryptocurrency. Effectively you can buy a token or a fraction of interest in this building and it may contain both equity and debt," Marriott said.  However, there is yet to be "strength of interest" from institutional investors to move into the asset-backed security marketplace, he said. "There are two reasons for that. First, it’s their market. If you start fractionalised ownership, you open up that market to everybody; they cannibalise their own marketplace. "Second there is no regulatory framework, there is no access to the market for this to occur," he added. <img alt="Moderated by Benedict Andrew Lim, managing director, Southeast Asian real estate at Ernst & Young, the panel on fintech at the PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit consisted of Christopher J. Marriott, CEO, Southeast Asia, Savills; Dr Florian M. Spiegl, co-founder and COO, FinFabrik; and Phonpimol Pathomsak, fintech advisor" src="/documents/10204/0/A_0648-compressor.jpg/55de8f37-b159-4bb2-b5b1-0e69dee2c815?t=1542714936655" /> <h4>4. Easier access to credit</h4> Fintech has been a boon to financial inclusion in many developing countries, especially in Thailand where around 80 percent of people still need to take out loans to be able to acquire property, said Phonpimol. The fintech expert was the former CEO of Refinn, an online mortgage platform that assists customers in the loan application process and improves their chances of an approval. It does so by matching them with the right short-term and long-term offers by lenders. “There are a lot of people that would get rejected and never ever get the loan. Rejection basically because the customer is not qualified," she said. "It’s not their fault entirely; sometimes it’s because of the inefficiency of the bank, and also because the operation is taking too much time to verify the person.” <a href="http://property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/state-of-the-economy-a-conversation-with-the-economist-s-andrew-stapl-5" target="_blank">More: A conversation with The Economist's Andrew Staples</a> <h4>5. REIT vs tokens</h4> Tokens are far more affordable than REIT structures, which has “fees on fees on fees,” noted Marriott. “A token has everything included. The ownership would be included in a smart contract that can move from one person to another very efficiently.” In comparing tokens to REITs, Florian brings up the emotional factor that the former bring to investors, especially younger ones. “Strangely enough we tend to forget investment into real estate has an emotional component. Is there a less sexy product than a REIT? “Think about how we enable fractional ownership. People can walk up to a shopping mall, residential property, and say, 'This is my building.' We’re bringing back that emotional attachment. Now that sounds soft, but I think it’s very important for the next generation of investors to have a tangible element to their investment.”

Fintech in real estate: 5 takeaways from the PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit 2018

<img alt="Pedestrians along Orchard Road, Singapore. Suchart Boonyavech/Shutterstock" src="/documents/10204/0/shutterstock_1045118092-compressor.jpg/4fcdc332-2bc8-4fe3-95e3-b1daa351748f?t=1542344288615" style="width: 1000px; height: 667px;" />Cradling 8.5 percent of the world’s population, Southeast Asia is brimming with overly populous cities. The convergence of humanity in this part of the world presents a motherlode of challenges to urban planners. The population boom is also a catalyst for urban sprawl and, along with it, demand for greenhouse-gas-guzzling private vehicles. To counter the colossal pressures besetting the region’s urban hubs, "behavioral change” is in order, particularly in outmoded attitudes toward walkability, according to Chintan Raveshia, Cities lead of the Cities and Planning team at Arup Singapore. Success is subjective, and for many Asians, it is predicated on car ownership. “There’s a lot of people in this part of the world where people think buying a car is the future. That doesn’t need to be,” Raveshia said on the sidelines of the <a href="http://asiarealestatesummit.com" target="_blank">PropertyGuru Real Estate Summit</a>, where he delivered a keynote speech. As a consequence of these social mores, pedestrian spaces often take a backseat to high-stakes road projects. Only two million Filipinos own private vehicles, for example, but in Metro Manila, an urban agglomeration of more than 12 million, sidewalks have no proper setback rules, forcing pedestrians to squeeze into dangerous one-lane walks. <img alt="Chintan Raveshia, Cities lead of the Cities and Planning team at Arup Singapore, delivering his keynote speech at the PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit 2018" src="/documents/10204/0/A_0855-compressor.jpg/70d442ee-fa45-4d19-827d-83a6c02c31d5?t=1542345191355" /> Worse yet, uninterruptible urban sprawl has trebled the rise of low-density developments that can only be reached by cars, compounding the problem of carbon emissions from the city. “We want people’s idea of growth and progress to change … to make people accept that walking is cool and it’s okay. To make that people think that walking is not pulling them down in their class structure." There is still much to learn from Southeast Asia though. Raveshia, a Singapore resident, cited a recent survey in his city that suggested buying cars is falling out of favour with young demographic cohorts even as government regulations continue to impinge on car ownership. <a href="http://property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/connecting-the-dots-the-rise-of-the-megacity-archipelag-5" target="_blank">More: Building a 'megacity archipelago' is the future, says Parag Khanna</a> “The next generation does not aim at buying a car anymore. They want to use that money for experience,” he said. Raveshia, who has lent his expertise to modern transport projects in the UK, Sydney, and Kocaeli in Turkey, has reason to be optimistic about Southeast Asian cities. Most might as well be cities in Europe of 100 years ago — they were able to transcend such pressures to arrive at where they are now. “I see that progress is going to be much quicker for us here in Asia because we already know the mistakes of the past to be able to reform those and move around very quickly to where we need to be,” he said.

What makes a successful Asian city? The answer is in walkability

<img alt="The US-China trade dispute represents a key risk to global economic outlook. ittoilmatar/Shutterstock" src="/documents/10204/0/shutterstock_1185877720-compressor.jpg/0deb5792-ba14-40a3-a872-b0ee704db97e?t=1542285024861" style="width: 1000px; height: 667px;" />The US-China trade war will accelerate shifts in the global economic supply chain and Chinese outbound investment markets, according to thought leaders gathered at the <a href="http://asiarealestatesummit.com/" target="_blank">PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit</a>.  While the dispute has bruised consumer confidence in China, its upshot will not be a reduction in the US trade deficit as President Donald Trump had hoped, according to Andrew Staples, editorial director and chief economist at The Economist Corporate Network (ECN). “It won't get the deficit down. It will simply mean that supply chains move to other countries, whether it be soya beans in Brazil or automative exports from Thailand,” Staples told attendees at the summit where he delivered the first keynote address.  "We don't think the trade war is justified action," he added.  Similarly, the trade war will see Chinese buying inquiries riven into two trends, one being plunging demand for stateside residential products, according to Carrie Law, CEO of Juwai.com.   “One is wait-and-see, do nothing. The other is a shift in demand into regional targets, into Southeast Asian countries,” she said on the sidelines of the summit. “We can see that [buying] inquiries for the US, as well as Australia, dropped by double digits. The growth in North Asian countries are also up. “Obviously the demand is still there. It’s just not the same locations.” <img alt="Andrew Staples, editorial director at the Economist Corporate Network (ECN)" src="/documents/10204/0/A_0332-compressor.jpg/dc2ecc13-96a5-4e44-bc16-7480bdc06316?t=1542285526656" /> The trade dispute morphing into a full-blown global trade war will be the number one risk and bring "colder" headwinds to the global economy into the next year, predicted Staples. Presenting his 2019 forecast for the region, Staples warned that the tit-for-tat tariffs between the states and China constitute the topmost risk to their economic outlook for next year. “Their relations are very poor. We don’t think this is good for global growth, we don’t think this is good for global security,” Staples said.   “This is something we’re very, very worried about.” <a href="http://property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/state-of-the-economy-a-conversation-with-the-economist-s-andrew-stapl-5" target="_blank">More: A conversation with The Economist's Andrew Staples</a> Already, the trade dispute has riven Asian economies into distinct winners and losers, according to a new report released earlier this month by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), an ECN company. Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan are projected to lose in the ICT sector, for example, in contrast to winners like Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Thailand. Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Vietnam are poised to be the trade war’s winning economies in terms of ready-made garment manufacturing, while Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam are set to excel in automotive production. China’s losing luster as a manufacturing destination reflects its growing affluence and transformation into a consumption-driven market. “If you went to China 25 years ago, it has lots of low-cost labour to make t-shirts and shoes. That’s all gone now to places like Vietnam, Bangladesh, and elsewhere — which is a more positive story. [The Chinese] have more money to spend.”

How the trade war will alter the global economy and Chinese property market

Thailand real estate: relentless, expensive, and highly desirable

<img alt="" src="/documents/10204/0/Thailand+lead+image+2.jpg/fa21d8ab-ab6b-428e-ba4e-9fb5614f7802?t=1506489408522" style="width: 1081px; height: 549px;" /> For Australians, the phrase ‘the lucky country’ has strong resonance. The nickname, coined by author Donald Horne in his novel of the same name, has been used to describe the Antipodean nation’s weather, lifestyle and is often invoked to describe its good fortune from gold rushes to economic booms. Despite its roots Down Under, the description could just as easily be applied to Thailand: a nation whose spectacular natural attributes, incredible cuisine and long-established cache as one of the world’s most appealing places to live has enabled its property market to ride out storms and setbacks that might have floored those in other countries. “Thailand’s infrastructure, accessibility, and general reputation for being a laid-back leisure destination are still vastly superior to other neighbouring countries,” says Andrew Gulbrandson, research head at JLL Thailand. “While certain destinations within Thailand may become less popular, it’s difficult to envision a scenario where Thailand’s desirability as a place to invest substantially decreases.” Indeed, the country’s reputation for being Teflon-coated when it comes to deflecting troublesome news, events and economic tidings is as resonant as ever. In August 2016, bombs exploded in the tourist hubs of Hua Hin and Phuket while last October saw the passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the nation’s much revered monarch. This year has, by Thai standards at least, been relatively light on potentially seismic events. However, the military-run government, in power since a coup in 2014, preside over an economy that continues to be lacklustre. The economy will expand 3.3 percent a year on average from 2017 to 2019, according to the World Bank, the weakest among eight developing Southeast Asian nations. Given all this you could be forgiven for thinking that the country’s once-thriving real estate sector might be showing signs of lethargy, if not out and out fatigue. Not so, say analysts, experts and developers, pointing to booming demand for luxury property in the capital Bangkok and healthy interest from investors, both foreign and Thai, in popular secondary markets such as the paradise islands of Phuket and Koh Samui and the well-located beach resort of Hua Hin.    <a href="http://property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/what-you-missed-at-the-propertyguru-thailand-real-estate-summit-20-3" target="_blank">More: What you missed at the PropertyGuru Thailand Real Estate Summit 2017</a>   In Bangkok, growth in the condominium market remained strong last year. According to Knight Frank’s “Asia Pacific Residential Review”, published earlier this year, more than 52,000 new units were added in 2016 bringing the total to 435,805. But with demand at 315,393 units, the take-up rate recorded a three percentage-point drop to 72.4 percent. Contrastingly, take-up in the sub-prime and prime segments increased by more than four percentage points to 75.4 percent – indicative of the current rude health of the luxury residential market in the city. High-end condominiums are rising with the regularity of a ticking metronome. The striking MahaNakhon building – a mixed-use tower (Thailand’s tallest tower) that features leading international restaurants, hospitality and a luxury residential component with management by Ritz-Carlton – is the most noticeable manifestation of the ongoing penchant for new high-end real estate, while other new projects vie for the attention of super-rich investors. Prime central areas in the city are rising in price with properties selling for up to THB300,000 (USD8,421) per sq metre.  At super-luxe residential projects, such as the Ritz-Carlton Residences at MahaNakhon and 98 Wireless by respected Thai developer Sansiri, price tags are truly eye-watering. Units at the Ritz-Carlton Residences are priced from THB45 million to more than THB300 million while prices average about THB550,000 per square metre at 98 Wireless. Still, these asking prices pale in comparison with the city-record THB650,000 per square metre that was paid in March for the penthouse unit at Mandarin Oriental Bangkok Residences, winner of Best Condo Development at the Thailand Property Awards 2016. Such opulence may not come cheap but strong uptake from buyers proves that there’s a market for it.  “Freehold ownership of Thailand’s tallest tower is truly a unique selling point,” says Kipsan Beck, managing director of MahaNakhon. “Buyers have indicated that they appreciate the design and specifications, mixed-use lifestyle benefits of having everything at their doorstep and the wide range of facilities and quality standards throughout.”    <div class="pull-quotes-container">Prices for new luxury units have risen to the point where it does not make sense for renters</div>   Developers and analysts are also reporting high levels of interest in luxury real estate elsewhere in the city’s central areas, even in the light of rocketing purchase prices and low to non-existent yield potential.  “Investors eyeing the luxury condo market should not expect any rental yield from new projects,” says Gulbrandson. “Prices for new luxury units have risen to the point where it does not make sense for renters.” The absence of any significant buy-to-let benefits (at least at the highest end of the markets) could be looked upon as a disincentive to buyers. So too could the surge in land values. These factors, as well as an expected glut of supply in the condominium market, meanwhile, has prompted some – including, most recently, Supachai Panitchpakdi, a former director-general of the World Trade Organization – to speculate about a possible property bubble. Experts, however, point to a range of advantages which bolster Bangkok’s reputation as a safe and stable place to invest.  Notably, the city still offers decent value for money. According to globalpropertyguide.com, property prices in the world’s top real estate markets like the US, UK and other Asian hotspots like Singapore and Hong Kong are between two to six times more expensive than Thailand.   <img alt="Hua Hin's proximity to Bangkok makes it a seriously convenient place for investors" src="/documents/10204/0/Thailand+templs.jpg/97cdbb82-6021-4c9a-817a-70df5c118609?t=1506487485611" style="width: 740px; height: 416px;" />   Analysts also point to the absence of punitive stamp duties for foreign nationals such as those found in Singapore and Hong Kong and the liquidity of developers and the selectivity of banks in approving mortgages as positive indicators. And, of course, also appealing are the perks that come from living in a city with myriad lifestyle benefits and easy access to the rest of Thailand and the world.  “Any suggestion of a bubble falls somewhere on the spectrum between ill-informed and irresponsible,” says Gulbrandson. “Bubbles can be created by many conditions, but most notably loose financing and massive speculative development, neither of which are present in the Bangkok market.” While Bangkok is by far the liveliest market in the country, sector conditions elsewhere in the tropical nation are also looking more promising than they have done for a while.  The sector in Phuket is beginning to pick up momentum after a soft few years where various ructions including the collapse of the Russian rouble, the worldwide slump in oil prices and the fallout from the UK’s Brexit vote took their toll on investor confidence.  Agents, however, are reporting an uptick in interest – especially in the resale market. And while there’s scant scope for new projects on the built up prime strip of coastline on the west of Thailand’s biggest island, inland areas such as Pasak and Kathu and quieter coastal enclaves such as Rawai in the south of the island are developing fast. Observers note a strong Thai flavour to the resurgence of the Phuket market, with home-grown developers and investors taking up the slack as interest from international buyers dwindles for the moment. “The positive response from the local market has been pleasantly surprising,” says Setthapol Boottho, executive director of MontAzure, whose Twinpalms Residences and Estates at MontAzure near Kamala beach are among the most exclusive of the new developments on the island.    <div class="pull-quotes-container">Many more experienced Thai investors realise the value of having a balanced property portfolio so they are looking further afield for better returns and capital appreciation</div>   The THB2.2 billion project, which is part of the larger mixed-use MontAzure development, comprises and condo and villas on one of the final plots of land on the island with direct beachfront access. “Thai buyers are far more discerning now in terms of design, quality and yield,” he adds. “Many more experienced Thai investors realise the value of having a balanced property portfolio so they are looking further afield for better returns and capital appreciation.” The high-end segment on Thailand’s star island is also expected to be boosted by the recent extension to its international airport, which increased capacity from 6.5 million to 12.5 million passengers a year.   <a href="http://property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/in-thailand-empty-nesters-find-their-luxe-forever-ho-16" target="_blank">More: In fast-aging Thailand, empty nesters find their luxe forever homes</a>   “The airport facility itself will be a vast improvement on the customer experience which is important in the luxury segment,” Setthapol says. “It also means that more destinations are accessible which should broaden the market across all segments – high end and mass market. These markets co-exist in many celebrated destinations like Hawaii, and Bali, where there are a variety of locations with different segment appeal.” Over on the east coast of the country, in popular destinations like Koh Samui and Hua Hin, investment opportunities also abound. Although complaints of overdevelopment in certain areas of Samui, as well as an oversupply in poorly-constructed developments, are founded, agents are reporting generous yields of between 6 to 14 percent on luxury property. The emergence of Lamai, the island’s second-largest resort area, and the fact that there is still plentiful room for quality new projects are among other factors fuelling optimism. “If certain development plans around the island do end up being confirmed and put into place then huge changes could be seen in specific areas with many new investment opportunities,” says George Willoughby of Form Realty. Despite a slight slowdown over the past few quarters, the market in Hua Hin remains relatively stable.    <img alt="Phuket continues to lure tourists and investors alike due to its winning combination of big city amenities and stunning tropical shores" src="/documents/10204/0/Thailand+beachs.jpg/7a5ddf22-316f-4ed3-b896-b76bbb3f4cc4?t=1506487552596" style="width: 740px; height: 493px;" />   According to Knight Frank Thailand research, the total supply at Q1 2017 stands at 23,584 units, with no new projects being launched yet in 2017. Approximately 1,000 to 3,000 new units were launched over the past few years, but the research notes that future supply will grow at a slower rate, especially in the luxury segments as premium real estate in the coastal town becomes scarce.  The sector there is expected to expand, however, in the next three to four years thanks to the government’s plan to develop a high-speed rail connection from Bangkok to Hua Hin. Further encouragement to the real estate market nationwide came in March 2017 when Apisak Tantivorawong, minister of finance, said that the government was considering amending property legislation to allow investors to lease property for 50 years, with the option of renewing the contract for a further 49. Under present regulations, businesses are permitted to take out 30-year leases with the option of extending for another 30 years.  “That would be a real game-changer,” says Robert Krupica of leading Thai international law firm Hughes Krupica. “Foreign villa buyers would benefit immensely from the longer tenure and the longer lease terms will be very positive for mixed use and commercial developments where the asset can be amortised over a longer period.” To those unfamiliar with Thailand, its paradoxes may seem disquieting. However, with value for money, high quality developments continuing to enhance the sky-high appeal of its property market, it’s hardly surprising that the nation continues to ride out its storms.    <h4>Chiang Mai continues to struggle</h4> Thailand’s second-largest city has long been considered a poor relation to Bangkok and southern markets like Phuket when it comes to investment in real estate. And condo and housing supply in the northern capital remain weak despite new transport network development projects such as a second international airport and a 184-kilometre inter-city motorway between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. According to the Real Estate Information Centre (REIC), the monthly absorption rate of the low-rise housing supply in the city declined to an average of 3.6 percent in the third quarter of 2015, down from 5.3 percent. Samma Kitsin, director general of the REIC, says the ambitious transport plans will have minimal impact on the property market as the projects are unlikely to be completed in the near-distant future.   <h4>Phuket’s inland appeal</h4> Although its beachfront areas are undoubtedly Phuket’s hottest investment hubs, urban zones inland such as Phuket Town and Kathu District are increasingly on the radar for developers and investors. While beachfront property is undoubtedly attractive, it comes at a premium. Buyers can expect to shell out up to THB110,000 per sqm for some high-end condos on the island’s most prized stretches of shoreline. Prices per sqm are around half that inland, while improving road links to the airport and a host of new retail options further enhance the appeal of areas such as Kathu.  “We are seeing a lot of activity in Kathu District presently and that’s liable to be an ongoing trend due to the opening of new retail options such as Blue Pearl and the King Power duty free complex,” says Robert Krupica of Hughes Krupica.   <h2>What to buy</h2> <h3>Bangkok </h3> <h4>The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok</h4> <h4><img alt="" src="/documents/10204/0/THE+RESIDENCES+AT+MANDARIN+ORIENTAL.jpg/8bfea135-0b05-4a4c-a413-11ed8c6077a7?t=1506658041113" style="width: 740px; height: 481px;" /> </h4>   Developer: MQDC Magnolia Quality Development Corporation Size: 128-165 sqm Number of units: 146 Price: USD10,026-15,750 per sqm Location: Charoenakorn Road Completion date: 2018 X-factor: Direct connection to BTS Gold line   <h4>749 Residence</h4> <h4><img alt="" src="/documents/10204/0/749+%281%29.jpg/1005fbee-4f9c-4d54-b64a-9df6088bffb3?t=1506658078141" style="width: 740px; height: 639px;" /> </h4>   Developer: Pannaphat Development Co Ltd Size (avg): 155.76 sqm Number of units: 7 Price (avg): USD1.9 million  Location: Sukhumvit 49 Completion date: 2017 X-factor: Private parking spaces for 4-5 cars   <h3>Phuket</h3> <h4>Twinpalms Residences MontAzure</h4> <img alt="" src="/documents/10204/0/TWINPALMS+RESIDENCES+MONTAZURE+%282%29.jpg/e563133c-0dd2-4482-9166-8d82517087b1?t=1506658151562" style="width: 740px; height: 444px;" />   Developer: MontAzure Size: 70-400 sqm Number of units: 75 Price: USD380,000-2.6 million Location: Kamala Beach, Phuket Completion date: 2018 X-factor: Beachfront landscaped gardens   <h3>Samui</h3> <h4>uniQue</h4> <img alt="" src="/documents/10204/0/UNIQUE+%281%29.jpg/4d26bfc7-deea-49f9-b273-f4943ac68599?t=1506658215152" style="width: 740px; height: 493px;" />   Developer: Q71 Development Co Ltd Size (avg): 100 sqm Number of units: 96 Price (avg): USD344,000  Location: Bho Phut, Koh Samui Completion date: 2017 X-factor: proximity to island pier and Fishermen’s Village   <h3>Hua Hin</h3> <h4>MahaSamutr </h4> <img alt="" src="/documents/10204/0/MAHASAMUTR+%282%29.jpg/cfb31423-ea2a-4439-840f-d8d3d38928d4?t=1506658249696" style="width: 740px; height: 503px;" />   Developer: PACE Development Size: 447-587 sqm  Number of units: 80 Price: Starts at USD1.4 million Location: Soi 112 Huana Tuptai Road, Hua HIn Completion date: 2017 (Phase 1) X-factor: Asia’s largest lagoon   <h3>Chiang Mai</h3> <h4>The Sanctum</h4> <img alt="" src="/documents/10204/0/THE+SANCTUM+%281%29.jpg/5c233828-c05c-427c-80b6-94dfd1511c15?t=1506658302268" style="width: 740px; height: 423px;" />   Developer: Sanctum Co Ltd Size (avg): 730 sqm Number of units: 6 Price: USD1.45-1.82 million Location: Hang Dong, Chiang Mai Completion date: 2017 X-factor: Sophisticated security features including biometric door locks and a nuclear fallout shelter   This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.magzter.com/TH/PropertyGuru-International-(Thailand)-Co.,Ltd/Property-Report/Business/" target="_blank">Issue No. 143 of PropertyGuru Property Report Magazine</a>

For Australians, the phrase ‘the lucky country’ has strong resonance. The nickname, coined by author Donald Horne in his novel of the same name, has been used to describe the Antipodean nation’s weather, lifestyle and is often invoked to describe its good fortune from gold rushes to economic booms.

Despite its roots Down Under, the description could just as easily be applied to Thailand: a nation whose spectacular natural attributes, incredible cuisine and long-established cache as one of the world’s most appealing places to live has enabled its property market to ride out storms and setbacks that might have floored those in other countries.

“Thailand’s infrastructure, accessibility, and general reputation for being a laid-back leisure destination are still vastly superior to other neighbouring countries,” says Andrew Gulbrandson, research head at JLL Thailand. “While certain destinations within Thailand may become less popular, it’s difficult to envision a scenario where Thailand’s desirability as a place to invest substantially decreases.”

Indeed, the country’s reputation for being Teflon-coated when it comes to deflecting troublesome news, events and economic tidings is as resonant as ever. In August 2016, bombs exploded in the tourist hubs of Hua Hin and Phuket while last October saw the passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the nation’s much revered monarch.

This year has, by Thai standards at least, been relatively light on potentially seismic events. However, the military-run government, in power since a coup in 2014, preside over an economy that continues to be lacklustre. The economy will expand 3.3 percent a year on average from 2017 to 2019, according to the World Bank, the weakest among eight developing Southeast Asian nations.

Given all this you could be forgiven for thinking that the country’s once-thriving real estate sector might be showing signs of lethargy, if not out and out fatigue. Not so, say analysts, experts and developers, pointing to booming demand for luxury property in the capital Bangkok and healthy interest from investors, both foreign and Thai, in popular secondary markets such as the paradise islands of Phuket and Koh Samui and the well-located beach resort of Hua Hin.

More: What you missed at the PropertyGuru Thailand Real Estate Summit 2017

In Bangkok, growth in the condominium market remained strong last year. According to Knight Frank’s “Asia Pacific Residential Review”, published earlier this year, more than 52,000 new units were added in 2016 bringing the total to 435,805. But with demand at 315,393 units, the take-up rate recorded a three percentage-point drop to 72.4 percent.

Contrastingly, take-up in the sub-prime and prime segments increased by more than four percentage points to 75.4 percent – indicative of the current rude health of the luxury residential market in the city.

High-end condominiums are rising with the regularity of a ticking metronome. The striking MahaNakhon building – a mixed-use tower (Thailand’s tallest tower) that features leading international restaurants, hospitality and a luxury residential component with management by Ritz-Carlton – is the most noticeable manifestation of the ongoing penchant for new high-end real estate, while other new projects vie for the attention of super-rich investors. Prime central areas in the city are rising in price with properties selling for up to THB300,000 (USD8,421) per sq metre.

At super-luxe residential projects, such as the Ritz-Carlton Residences at MahaNakhon and 98 Wireless by respected Thai developer Sansiri, price tags are truly eye-watering. Units at the Ritz-Carlton Residences are priced from THB45 million to more than THB300 million while prices average about THB550,000 per square metre at 98 Wireless. Still, these asking prices pale in comparison with the city-record THB650,000 per square metre that was paid in March for the penthouse unit at Mandarin Oriental Bangkok Residences, winner of Best Condo Development at the Thailand Property Awards 2016.

Such opulence may not come cheap but strong uptake from buyers proves that there’s a market for it.

“Freehold ownership of Thailand’s tallest tower is truly a unique selling point,” says Kipsan Beck, managing director of MahaNakhon. “Buyers have indicated that they appreciate the design and specifications, mixed-use lifestyle benefits of having everything at their doorstep and the wide range of facilities and quality standards throughout.”

Prices for new luxury units have risen to the point where it does not make sense for renters

Developers and analysts are also reporting high levels of interest in luxury real estate elsewhere in the city’s central areas, even in the light of rocketing purchase prices and low to non-existent yield potential.

“Investors eyeing the luxury condo market should not expect any rental yield from new projects,” says Gulbrandson. “Prices for new luxury units have risen to the point where it does not make sense for renters.”

The absence of any significant buy-to-let benefits (at least at the highest end of the markets) could be looked upon as a disincentive to buyers. So too could the surge in land values. These factors, as well as an expected glut of supply in the condominium market, meanwhile, has prompted some – including, most recently, Supachai Panitchpakdi, a former director-general of the World Trade Organization – to speculate about a possible property bubble.

Experts, however, point to a range of advantages which bolster Bangkok’s reputation as a safe and stable place to invest.

Notably, the city still offers decent value for money. According to globalpropertyguide.com, property prices in the world’s top real estate markets like the US, UK and other Asian hotspots like Singapore and Hong Kong are between two to six times more expensive than Thailand.

Hua Hin's proximity to Bangkok makes it a seriously convenient place for investors

Analysts also point to the absence of punitive stamp duties for foreign nationals such as those found in Singapore and Hong Kong and the liquidity of developers and the selectivity of banks in approving mortgages as positive indicators. And, of course, also appealing are the perks that come from living in a city with myriad lifestyle benefits and easy access to the rest of Thailand and the world.

“Any suggestion of a bubble falls somewhere on the spectrum between ill-informed and irresponsible,” says Gulbrandson. “Bubbles can be created by many conditions, but most notably loose financing and massive speculative development, neither of which are present in the Bangkok market.”

While Bangkok is by far the liveliest market in the country, sector conditions elsewhere in the tropical nation are also looking more promising than they have done for a while.

The sector in Phuket is beginning to pick up momentum after a soft few years where various ructions including the collapse of the Russian rouble, the worldwide slump in oil prices and the fallout from the UK’s Brexit vote took their toll on investor confidence.

Agents, however, are reporting an uptick in interest – especially in the resale market. And while there’s scant scope for new projects on the built up prime strip of coastline on the west of Thailand’s biggest island, inland areas such as Pasak and Kathu and quieter coastal enclaves such as Rawai in the south of the island are developing fast.

Observers note a strong Thai flavour to the resurgence of the Phuket market, with home-grown developers and investors taking up the slack as interest from international buyers dwindles for the moment.

“The positive response from the local market has been pleasantly surprising,” says Setthapol Boottho, executive director of MontAzure, whose Twinpalms Residences and Estates at MontAzure near Kamala beach are among the most exclusive of the new developments on the island.

Many more experienced Thai investors realise the value of having a balanced property portfolio so they are looking further afield for better returns and capital appreciation

The THB2.2 billion project, which is part of the larger mixed-use MontAzure development, comprises and condo and villas on one of the final plots of land on the island with direct beachfront access.

“Thai buyers are far more discerning now in terms of design, quality and yield,” he adds. “Many more experienced Thai investors realise the value of having a balanced property portfolio so they are looking further afield for better returns and capital appreciation.”

The high-end segment on Thailand’s star island is also expected to be boosted by the recent extension to its international airport, which increased capacity from 6.5 million to 12.5 million passengers a year.

More: In fast-aging Thailand, empty nesters find their luxe forever homes

“The airport facility itself will be a vast improvement on the customer experience which is important in the luxury segment,” Setthapol says. “It also means that more destinations are accessible which should broaden the market across all segments – high end and mass market. These markets co-exist in many celebrated destinations like Hawaii, and Bali, where there are a variety of locations with different segment appeal.”

Over on the east coast of the country, in popular destinations like Koh Samui and Hua Hin, investment opportunities also abound.

Although complaints of overdevelopment in certain areas of Samui, as well as an oversupply in poorly-constructed developments, are founded, agents are reporting generous yields of between 6 to 14 percent on luxury property. The emergence of Lamai, the island’s second-largest resort area, and the fact that there is still plentiful room for quality new projects are among other factors fuelling optimism.

“If certain development plans around the island do end up being confirmed and put into place then huge changes could be seen in specific areas with many new investment opportunities,” says George Willoughby of Form Realty.

Despite a slight slowdown over the past few quarters, the market in Hua Hin remains relatively stable.

Phuket continues to lure tourists and investors alike due to its winning combination of big city amenities and stunning tropical shores

According to Knight Frank Thailand research, the total supply at Q1 2017 stands at 23,584 units, with no new projects being launched yet in 2017. Approximately 1,000 to 3,000 new units were launched over the past few years, but the research notes that future supply will grow at a slower rate, especially in the luxury segments as premium real estate in the coastal town becomes scarce.

The sector there is expected to expand, however, in the next three to four years thanks to the government’s plan to develop a high-speed rail connection from Bangkok to Hua Hin.

Further encouragement to the real estate market nationwide came in March 2017 when Apisak Tantivorawong, minister of finance, said that the government was considering amending property legislation to allow investors to lease property for 50 years, with the option of renewing the contract for a further 49. Under present regulations, businesses are permitted to take out 30-year leases with the option of extending for another 30 years.

“That would be a real game-changer,” says Robert Krupica of leading Thai international law firm Hughes Krupica. “Foreign villa buyers would benefit immensely from the longer tenure and the longer lease terms will be very positive for mixed use and commercial developments where the asset can be amortised over a longer period.”

To those unfamiliar with Thailand, its paradoxes may seem disquieting. However, with value for money, high quality developments continuing to enhance the sky-high appeal of its property market, it’s hardly surprising that the nation continues to ride out its storms.

Chiang Mai continues to struggle

Thailand’s second-largest city has long been considered a poor relation to Bangkok and southern markets like Phuket when it comes to investment in real estate. And condo and housing supply in the northern capital remain weak despite new transport network development projects such as a second international airport and a 184-kilometre inter-city motorway between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. According to the Real Estate Information Centre (REIC), the monthly absorption rate of the low-rise housing supply in the city declined to an average of 3.6 percent in the third quarter of 2015, down from 5.3 percent. Samma Kitsin, director general of the REIC, says the ambitious transport plans will have minimal impact on the property market as the projects are unlikely to be completed in the near-distant future.

Phuket’s inland appeal

Although its beachfront areas are undoubtedly Phuket’s hottest investment hubs, urban zones inland such as Phuket Town and Kathu District are increasingly on the radar for developers and investors. While beachfront property is undoubtedly attractive, it comes at a premium. Buyers can expect to shell out up to THB110,000 per sqm for some high-end condos on the island’s most prized stretches of shoreline. Prices per sqm are around half that inland, while improving road links to the airport and a host of new retail options further enhance the appeal of areas such as Kathu. “We are seeing a lot of activity in Kathu District presently and that’s liable to be an ongoing trend due to the opening of new retail options such as Blue Pearl and the King Power duty free complex,” says Robert Krupica of Hughes Krupica.

What to buy

Bangkok

The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok

Developer: MQDC Magnolia Quality Development Corporation
Size: 128-165 sqm
Number of units: 146
Price: USD10,026-15,750 per sqm
Location: Charoenakorn Road
Completion date: 2018
X-factor: Direct connection to BTS Gold line

749 Residence

Developer: Pannaphat Development Co Ltd
Size (avg): 155.76 sqm
Number of units: 7
Price (avg): USD1.9 million
Location: Sukhumvit 49
Completion date: 2017
X-factor: Private parking spaces for 4-5 cars

Phuket

Twinpalms Residences MontAzure

Developer: MontAzure
Size: 70-400 sqm
Number of units: 75
Price: USD380,000-2.6 million
Location: Kamala Beach, Phuket
Completion date: 2018
X-factor: Beachfront landscaped gardens

Samui

uniQue

Developer: Q71 Development Co Ltd
Size (avg): 100 sqm
Number of units: 96
Price (avg): USD344,000
Location: Bho Phut, Koh Samui
Completion date: 2017
X-factor: proximity to island pier and Fishermen’s Village

Hua Hin

MahaSamutr

Developer: PACE Development
Size: 447-587 sqm
Number of units: 80
Price: Starts at USD1.4 million
Location: Soi 112 Huana Tuptai Road, Hua HIn
Completion date: 2017 (Phase 1)
X-factor: Asia’s largest lagoon

Chiang Mai

The Sanctum

Developer: Sanctum Co Ltd
Size (avg): 730 sqm
Number of units: 6
Price: USD1.45-1.82 million
Location: Hang Dong, Chiang Mai
Completion date: 2017
X-factor: Sophisticated security features including biometric door locks and a nuclear fallout shelter

This article originally appeared in Issue No. 143 of PropertyGuru Property Report Magazine

Latest From Property Report

<img alt="Colombo as seen from Galle Face. saha sanjeewa/Shutterstock" src="/documents/10204/0/shutterstock_1248241972-compressor.jpg/dab8c760-ee08-4ffc-a86b-945de46a5b93?t=1545128058314" style="width: 1000px; height: 667px;" />The condominium segment in Sri Lanka has decelerated due to uncertainty, the currency devaluation, and bottlenecks in funding, according to a leading analyst. Monthly condominium sales in the island nation have dropped to just one to two units, compared with the average of eight to nine, the <a href="http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Condo-sales-hit-by-politics-falling-rupee-and-high-financing-cost--159881.html" target="_blank">Mirror Business</a> reported, citing property developers familiar with the matter. The drop in sales volume is attributable to political instability, the depreciation of the rupee, and lack of funds, according to KPMG Principal Deal Advisory Shiluka Goonawaradene. “It might change next year as VAT (value-added tax) is supposed to come into effect in April. Even if there’s a bit of a slowdown in the market due to current situation, it will pick up early next year,” Goonawaradene said. <a href="http://property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/are-foreigners-missing-out-on-investing-in-sri-lankan-real-estate-" target="_blank">More: Are foreigners missing out on investing in Sri Lankan real estate?</a> The 15-percent VAT will be levied on condominiums from April 1. However, KPMG expects the market to recover ahead of the new measure’s implementation. With the tax in effect, prices of condominiums could rise by anywhere between eight and 10 percent, the consultancy predicted. The depreciation of the rupee has already raised the cost of dollar-priced condominiums by around 20 percent, deepening the dent on sales of luxe condominiums. A prolonged disruption in sales will have less impact on residential developers with wide access to funding, Goonawaradene told the Mirror. “If you are a small developer, who depends on sales to carry out your project, then you have a problem; you might have to be a bit generous in prices and extend the payment terms.” Sri Lanka has 14,000 semi-luxury and luxury apartment units in the pipeline by 2020, the Mirror reported, citing data from the Research Intelligence Unit (RIU).

Sri Lanka condo sales slow down

<img alt="A construction site in Bandung, Indonesia. Sony Herdiana/Shutterstock" src="/documents/10204/0/shutterstock_1189007677-compressor.jpg/e085c3d7-a56d-429d-8f49-8371edab93b9?t=1545123067035" style="width: 1000px; height: 667px;" />China prohibited last year the use of induction furnaces (IF), commonly used to produce cheap steel, for safety and environmental reasons. However, these machines have found a new lease of life in Southeast Asia, Reuters reported.   In the Philippines, the total capacity of IF has surged to 400,000 tonnes to 500,000 tonnes, up from 150,000 tonnes to 200,000 tonnes two years ago, according to Roberto Cola, president of the Philippine Iron and Steel Institute and vice-president of steelmaker Steel Asia Manufacturing. Thirty to 40 percent of domestic rebar producers in Indonesia use IF, reported Silmy Karim, chief executive of steelmaker Krakatau Steel and chairman of the Indonesian Iron and Steel Association. IF are far less reliable than electric arc furnaces at removing impurities from steel products, rendering the buildings that use them as safety risks. <a href="http://property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/how-the-trade-war-will-alter-the-global-economy-and-chinese-property-mark-1" target="_blank">More: How the trade war will alter the global economy and Chinese property market</a> The Philippines and Indonesia are known for earthquakes and typhoons. "Imagine, Indonesia is an epicentre for earthquakes, so we must be vigilant. They must be prohibited," said Karim. The ASEAN Iron and Steel Council exhorted  member governments to prohibit the import of "obsolete and unwanted equipment from China" like IF.   "If it's an Asean directive, all governments are inclined to comply," said Philippines Trade Undersecretary Ruth Castelo, adding that three steel plants she had inspected were found to use IF and lack anti-pollution devices.

Banned steel machines find their way to Southeast Asia

<img alt="Lang Co beach near Hue, Vietnam. Thana Nattribhop/Shutterstock" src="/documents/10204/0/shutterstock_466971455-compressor.jpg/6480c1b7-608d-4efb-b70b-1c95a8a11415?t=1545110966609" style="width: 1000px; height: 667px;" />The fortunes of Lang Co are set to change in the next few years. The small coastal village in Vietnam’s Hue province is home to Laguna Lang Co, a 280-hectare integrated resort that will, by 2021, host an international-scale casino complex. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc consented earlier this year to allowing the casino operations, set to feature some 500 gaming machines and 50 table games. Investment into the project will reportedly total USD2 billion, the minimum required capital for a casino resort to operate under a three-year trial for gambling by locals.  The initial salvo of residential components in the resort includes the Banyan Tree Residences, launched last week. The 40 villas, each with its own outdoor infinity pool, are splayed on a jungle-clad mountainside and look out to the resort's three-kilometre-long private beach. <a href="http://www.property-report.com/detail/-/blogs/vietnam-s-special-economic-zones-a-trojan-horse-for-chinese-influenc-1" target="_blank">More: Are Vietnam's Special Economic Zones a Trojan horse for Chinese influence?</a> “These days there are multiple investment opportunities in Vietnam, but not many property owners can say that they have a home that is built on a mountainside overlooking one of the most beautiful bays in the world. Here they can,” said Gavin Herholdt, managing director of Laguna Lang Co.   Occupants can choose from one- to three-bedroom villa layouts spanning from 152 to 260 square metres, respectively. The heights of the villas stand at anywhere between 45 and 85 metres. Interior elements of the residences pay subtle hoamge to the traditional architecture of nearby Hue, Vietnam’s former imperial capital. “Our aim with these residences was to showcase the harmony that can be achieved between nature and design,” said Herholdt. Laguna Lang Co is also home to the Angsana Lang Co resort as well as a championship golf course designed by Nick Faldo. See images of Banyan Tree Residences: <img alt="" src="/documents/10204/0/3_BanyanTreeLangCo_Three_Bedroom-Sea-view_Hill_Pool-Villa-%286%29-compressor.jpg/fac993f1-20b2-49e7-b26f-80149191b862?t=1545111068960" /> <img alt="" src="/documents/10204/0/2_Banyan-Tree-Lang-Co-Hill-Villa_2018%284%29-compressor.jpeg/0d8db190-3863-4899-82d2-e3d7e3088811?t=1545111052766" /> <img alt="" src="/documents/10204/0/1_BanyanTreeLangCo_Three_Bedroom-Sea-view_Hill_Pool-Villa-%281%29-compressor.jpg/2f3b2a51-ba7a-4779-809f-a8e545cee3bb?t=1545111041455" />

Where to live in a future Vietnamese casino resort