Floods, wage hike to spur condo boom

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LPN plans townhouses after 20-year hiatus

PATTAYA : The condominium market is poised for a boom in the second half this year, driven by new demand from the public sector’s salary increase and new buyers seeking refuge from natural disasters.

 

Opas Sripayak, managing director of the listed developer L.P.N. Development Plc (LPN), said the increase in the starting salary of civil servants to 15,000 baht would create new demand in the lower-end segment _ those priced around one million baht a unit _ where LPN dominates.

A larger number of new condominium projects in major destinations like Pattaya, Hua Hin and Phuket will be launched this year as people seek to buy second homes in light of floods.

“Floods have a severe impact on the low-rise market,” he said. “The market in the first half will be dominated by the developers unaffected or slightly affected by the 2011 floods. Those hard hit by them will need to dedicate their resources to solving the problems.”

These include building flood-prevention systems at inundated projects, managing cash flows weakened by sluggish sales at projects in flooded areas, improving after-sales services and restoring homebuyer’s confidence.

This year, the company will launch 12 condominium projects worth around 16 billion baht and five townhouse projects worth 1.5 billion baht in 2012. Locations for condominiums will include Sukhumvit Soi 77 and 109, Bang Na near Mega City Bang Na, Ratchayothin, Rattanathibet and Jom Tien in Chon Buri.

For townhouses, the projects will be in the Ratchayothin-Sena area and Lat Prao 21 where it will develop the Town Place brand priced from 4.5 million baht a unit and the Town Residence brand with unit priced from eight million baht respectively.

After a 20-year break, LPN will…

Full story from Bangkok Post at http://goo.gl/5DqKc