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Factors That Drive Bangkok Condo Prices
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Excellent report by CBRE to get to know the property market drivers in Bangkok.
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Factors That Drive Bangkok Condo Prices
1.
WHAT DRIVES BANGKOK’S RESIDENTIAL CONDOMINIUM
PRICES Prepared by James Pitchon
2.
INTRODUCTION HISTORY Everyone, whether
owner-occupier or investor, wants the price of their property to rise. The Bangkok real estate market is quite unique compared to other markets because of the huge variation in the price performance of condominium properties after their completion, even those in similar locations. For almost 30 years, I have researched and analysed the Bangkok residential condominium market looking for the magic formula to determine the price performance of a project. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that I have not found it yet, but have identified a list of factors that contribute to determining the price and hope these factors will be helpful in guiding property purchasers, be they owners or investors. Property, residential property in particular, is a unique product because it can be both for personal use and investment with the possibility of capital gain and rental income. It is a roof over your family’s head which is a basic need and can also be an appreciating investment if replacement costs rise or there is a perceived shortage of supply. It is one of the few investment products where many people are willing to borrow money to fund a purchase and banks are willing to lend to a broad range of people to fund a purchase. This makes property very different to other investments like shares or bonds as the dual-purpose nature of property as a consumer-durable and investment product makes analysing and forecasting prices harder. The Thai Condominium Act permitting the sale of freehold strata title condominium property was passed in 1979. By 1988, there were only about 2,600 completed condominium units in downtown Bangkok and today there are 140,000 and about 630,000 in the whole city comprising Bangkok and the five surrounding provinces (the Bangkok Metropolitan Region). In 1988, it was possible to buy an off-plan condominium unit in Bangkok for 20,000 – 25,000 baht per square metre but purchasers then got a bare concrete shell with a very basic bathroom. There were no wall, floor, or ceiling finishes, no fitted kitchen, air-conditioning, lighting, or electrical outlets provided by the developer. Today, average prices for new projects have risen by more than 1,000% compared to prices 30 years ago with new developments in Bangkok’s prime locations selling off-plan for more than 300,000 baht per square metre and most projects are now sold on a fully fitted basis. An unusual feature of the Bangkok market is that almost no completed projects have been able to achieve prices similar to new off-plan projects even when they are next door, and prices for completed buildings vary widely. I have set out to examine the reasons for these differences and which factors drive prices. 1 What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices1CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
3.
2 In the late
1980s, the best downtown condominium project was Somkid Gardens which could be purchased off-plan for 35,000 baht per square metre. At present, sellers are quoting resale prices for units in Somkid Gardens from around 170,000 baht per square metre up and yet other developments which are only 500 metres away such as (1) SC Asset’s 28 Chidlom, launched in 2016 and still under construction at the time of this writing, is selling at 350,000 baht per square metre and (2) Sansiri’s 98 Wireless, completed in 2016, where units have been reported as being sold at 700,000 baht per square metre. Somkid Gardens has seen unit prices increase by five times since it was sold off-plan more than 30 years ago, but there are other buildings that are 20 years old or more where prices have hardly increased. People often say that “location, location, location” is the key to property investment but this is obviously not the case in Bangkok, where there is such a wide variation of prices between buildings that are next door to each other. There are many other factors that have and will continue to affect price performance. We know that the price of new property is driven by the cost of land, cost of construction, developers’ profit margin, and what people are willing to pay; in contrast, the price of second-hand property is not driven by cost but only by what people are willing to pay. I have examined the various factors I think drive the price of resales in buildings and determine why prices may rise in one but not in another. One of these key factors, unlike other cities, is that future potential supply in Bangkok is not severely limited by government planning regulations. In Bangkok, the prices in some buildings don’t appreciate because there is “technical obsolescence,” such as low ceilings where the building design and specification no longer matches buyers’ requirements. There is also an element of “wilful obsolescence” where co-owners fail to maintain and upgrade the common areas of the property making it increasingly unattractive to potential occupiers whether they are buying for their own use or to rent out. Overall, there is a general logic to the pricing in each building in Bangkok, but the variation is much more significant for properties in similar locations than it is in other cities. Somkid Gardens What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices2CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
4.
2 1. LOCATION &
LAND PRICE 2. AGE 3. TOTAL NUMBER OF UNITS 4. SITE SIZE 5. LAND RATIO 6. HIGH-RISE VERSUS LOW-RISE 7. TYPE OF UNIT AND UNIT MIX 8. UNIT SIZE OPTIMISATION 9. DESIGN QUALITY - EXTERNAL APPEARANCE - LOBBY - LIFTS - FLOOR LOBBIES AND CORRIDORS - FACILITIES & COMMON AREAS - UNIT DESIGN - EXTERIOR FINISH / WINDOWS CONTENTS WHAT DRIVES BANGKOK’S RESIDENTIAL CONDOMINIUM PRICES 10. TYPE OF OWNER 11. HIGH FLOOR VERSUS LOW FLOOR 12. VIEW VERSUS NO VIEW 13. PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AND MAINTENANCE 14. PARKING 15. BRANDING 16. INVESTMENT YIELDS What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices3CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
5.
2 1. LOCATION &
LAND PRICE Location is obviously an important factor, but not the only factor in determining the price of second-hand condominium property. The most expensive sites and therefore the most expensive new properties are on a limited number of roads in the Lumpini, Sathorn, and Sukhumvit areas as well as a few Riverside locations. The most preferred locations have either better accessibility in terms of vehicular or mass transit access. Locations on narrow sois, far from the junction with a main road are less preferred. The desirability of a specific location is a combination of accessibility factors and not just proximity to a mass transit station. The uses in the immediate neighbourhood are also important. End-user owners and tenants want to live in a good neighbourhood with convenient facilities and amenities but don’t want to be next to a use that will create too much noise or disturbance. CBRE has, for the purposes of research, divided Central Lumpini, Silom/Sathorn, Sukhumvit, and Riverside. 4 DISTRICTS DEFINITION OF AREAS The area incorporating Wireless, Ploenchit, Rajadamri, Chidlom, Langsuan, Sarasin, and Ruamrudee roads, and other sois in between The area incorporating Silom, Sathorn, Surawong, and Narathiwas-Ratchanakarin roads (north of Chan road) as well as sois in between The area along Sukhumvit road from sois 1-63 and 2-43 as well as other sois in between Includes developments on the Riverside incorporating Rama III, Charoenkrung, and Charoennakorn roads Central Lumpini Silom / Sathorn Sukhumvit Riverside What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices4CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
6.
2 OLD TOWN SUKHUMVIT OUTER SUKHUMVIT OUTER
SUKHUMVIT CENTRAL LUMPINI SILOM SATHORN THONBURI RAMA lll BTS Route MRT Route Road Expressway PATHUMWAN Expressway Chan Road Wong Wian Yai RanaVRoad InnerRingRoad PhaholyothinRoad RatchadapisekRoad Sukhumvit Road Rama IV Road Charoen Nakorn Road Sathorn Road RIVERSIDE N arathiwatRatchanakarinRoad Charoen Krung Road What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices5CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
7.
8.
2 2. AGE There has
always been a preference for new property by Thai buyers who still make up the majority of Bangkok condominium purchasers. There is still a relatively illiquid resale market and in the whole of Bangkok, the ratio of new property sales to second-hand property sales is about four new condominium properties sold for every second-hand condominium sold. In the UK, the second-hand market is much more dominant with around eight second-hand sales for every one new property sale. The second-hand supply is a much bigger percentage of stock for sale in the UK where due to various factors, including very restrictive planning regulations, only a limited amount of new supply is built each year. However, no simple formula can be applied to say that second-hand property should trade at a certain discount to new property based simply on its age. There are numerous examples of similar-aged second-hand properties in very similar locations trading at very different prices per square metre; however, no completed building is achieving the same price as a new off-plan building in the same location. Land does not depreciate but the building structure does. In theory, provided the structure is not obsolete, then increased land prices should drive up the price of second-hand property with a discount for depreciation of the structure compared to the cost of a new building. This has not been the case and there is a wide variation of prices for similar-aged buildings in similar locations. Obviously, age is a significant factor with Somkid Gardens, probably the best performing over 30-year-old building, still selling at around half the price of new nearby buildings being sold off-plan. What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices7CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
9.
2 3. TOTAL NUMBER OF
UNITS 4. SITE SIZE As market theory says that price is determined by supply and demand, a building with a small number of units (limited supply) should perform better than a building with a large number of units. This is not the case in Bangkok as some buildings with less than 50 units perform worse than similar-aged buildings in similar locations with more than 200 units. There is no perfect formula but it does seem that once there are more than a certain number of units in a building, then people don’t perceive it as a luxury product because it does not come across as exclusive. The total number of units and buyers’ perceptions on the exclusivity and attractiveness varies based on the overall design of the project. Some projects with a limited number of units appear very densely developed because of the small size of the site; whereas, some projects with more units seem more open and attractive. Generally, speaking from what I have seen, projects with around 200 units seem to have sufficient scale to impress and exclusivity is reduced with too many units. This is not a hard rule and certainly we have seen some developments with up to 400 units achieve premium prices If a site is too small then the project has limited visibility, floor plates are small, and open area is restricted. Based on experience, a luxury project needs a site size of at least two Rai (3,200 square metres) but preferably three Rai (4,800 square metres). What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices8CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
10.
2 5. LAND RATIO Another
factor is the land to unit ratio. This is the total site area divided by the number of units. As previously stated, land does not depreciate and for new developments, land now accounts for more than 50% of a project’s costs. CBRE expects land prices to continue to rise and to form an increasingly greater component of the total price. There is some evidence to show that buildings with a greater amount of land per unit performs better but this is probably due to it giving the building a better look and feel rather than being driven purely by the mathematics of land valuation. In countries like Singapore, land value has risen to a level where the site is worth more than some older existing buildings, thus there have been cases where owners have mutually agreed to a collective sale where all units are sold to a single purchaser who intends to demolish the building and redevelop the property. Collective sales are unlikely to happen in Bangkok where 100% agreement of all co-owners is needed to dissolve a condominium, compared to 80% in Singapore. Domus Condominium - 110 units, 4.5 Rai of land One unit for every 65 square metres of site area What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices9CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
11.
2 6. HIGH-RISE VERSUS LOW-RISE 7.
TYPE OF UNIT AND UNIT MIX Generally, high-rise buildings perform better than low-rise buildings. Bangkok planning regulations restrict the size and heights of buildings on sois less than ten metres wide. In most parts of the CBD, the maximum built area permitted for sois between 6-10 metres wide is 10,000 square metres and a maximum height of 23 metres, generally 7-8 storeys. Low-rise buildings have been less popular because the view from units has often been blocked by buildings next door. Often, there is less open space in low-rise developments and the setback from the boundary is only three metres compared to six metres for a high-rise building. High-rise buildings often have better views and their size means they usually have larger common areas with more facilities and amenities. Developers have built a full range of condominium unit types from studios to palatial penthouses and there is some evidence to suggest that the types of units and their mix affects buyers’ perception of a building and its price. A building with only studio or one-bedroom unit types is not a seen as being a luxury development but that does not mean that a development with only three-bedroom and four-bedroom units is automatically considered a luxury development. A property with a mix of one, two, and three-bedroom units as well as a few larger units is generally considered a luxury development that can achieve higher prices. A building with only one unit size and type often appeals to only one segment of the market which can limit the number of potential purchasers and achievable prices. What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices10CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
12.
2 8. UNIT SIZE
OPTIMISATION Most buyers have a fixed lump sum budget and have decided how many bedrooms they want. A 180-square-metre three-bedroom unit in a new development may be able to get the same or a higher total price as a 300-square-metre or larger three-be- droom unit in an older building but the price per square metre will be more than 50-100% higher. For many buyers, it is not the total size of a unit but the efficiency of its layout and utility. Most new buildings have a much more carefully thought-out use of space focussed on maximizing the utility. In some older developments, the living/dining rooms are almost big enough to play football in, but much of the space is wasted and not practical. The newer and more efficient buildings with smaller unit sizes have much smaller utility areas and maids’ rooms. The smallest units do not automatically get a higher price per square metre because there is a minimum practical size for each unit type. There is a range of optimum sizes for each unit type. It is not just size that matters but also the practical utility of the space which is driven by design and not just the number of square metres. It seems clear that there is a range of unit sizes that optimize the price per square metre for each unit type but again, this depends on how purchasers view the efficiency and utility of the layout. Different types of buyers have different size requirements. Buy-to-rent investors want to optimize the rent per square metre preferring the smallest unit size that a tenant will accept, increasing the rent per square metre per month they receive. Owner-occupiers may prefer larger units to maximize their use of the space and may be willing to pay more in terms of the total price for the additional utility value. What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices11CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
13.
2 Design and specification
are key factors but they are very subjective and hard to precisely analyse and list because everybody has a slightly different view on what they like and therefore how much they are willing to pay. Design and specification cover a wide range of factors and I have set out what I think are the most important. • External Appearance Aside from the unit layout, there is an overall perception of the building design which is very subjective and depends on individual taste. I think buyers want a building with some sort of image when it is seen from the street or “Kerb Appeal,” hence the external appearance and visibility from the street is important. The quality of façade materials is one of the factors that determine the grade of a building. I believe luxury purchasers want a sense of privacy and exclusivity and don’t want retail outlets open to the public on the ground floor. Owner-occupiers want a sense of security and a feeling that the development is their home. • Lobby Just like a hotel or office building, buyers want a “sense of arrival” whether they arrive by private car, taxi, or on foot - they want to feel that they have arrived home. This does not mean that the building lobby needs to be the size of New York’s Grand Central Station but nor can it be tucked away in the middle of a badly-lit car park with low ceilings that only provide access to the passenger lifts. A decent-sized lobby with the right proportions of height to size is important to give the right sense of arrival. Generally, a lobby ceiling height of at least 4.5 metres is preferable. The lobby needs to be practical with step-free access for both people with babies in pushchairs and people in wheelchairs. • Lifts There is a preference to have separate car park lifts to ensure that all visitors pass through the main lobby as this provides additional security rather than go directly to their units’ floor from the car park. The passenger lifts need to be efficient and have the same look and feel as a five-star hotel. Efficiency is very important; nobody wants to pay ten million baht or more for a home where they have to wait some time before getting in the lift to get to work in the morning. Occupiers want a separate service lift so that furniture and building materials do not have to come up in passenger lifts and rubbish goes out via the service lift. One of the factors which has devalued older buildings is that their lifts have not been replaced or renovated and are both visually unattractive and slow. 9. DESIGN QUALITY What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices12CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
14.
2 There is a
question whether private lift lobbies add value to a building. This really depends on the design and efficiency of the floor plate. If there is only one lift which can be accessed from the private lift lobbies, buyers are concerned that when the lift is under maintenance they will have to use the service lift to access their units. On the other hand, as having two lifts to service private lift lobbies may not be cost-efficient, it all depends on the design, scale of project, and concept. Occupiers want both efficient lifts with minimum wait times and a sense of exclusivity, the best result is a compromise between these two needs. • Floor Lobbies and Corridors From what I have seen, many developers still ignore and do not spend enough money on floor lobbies and corridors. Some developments have floor lobbies that are decorated more like a back of house service corridor. I think people want the quality and the look and feel to be consistent throughout their journey from the street to their unit’s front door. • Facilities & Common Areas At times, there has been a tendency to oversize common area facilities and there have been many facilities that are impractical. They may look good in the brochure but not upon completion and as their operating costs must be paid by all co-owners, it is essential that they can be operated economically. We have seen developers putting in space for bars and other uses in common areas where owners do not want to pay for staff to manage them, and so they are now empty and unused. There are minimum levels of facilities required such as a good swimming pool and a well-equipped gym but in other cases facilities and amenities have turned out to be a mere marketing gimmick that cost too much to operate once building management is handed over to the co-owner’s committee and operating costs paid by the owners for the operation of unutilized common facilities are often cut back. Too many extras often lead to speedier obsolescence as condominium owners do not pay to maintain them. • Unit Design Many years ago, my former boss in Hong Kong told me that “kitchens and bathrooms sell apartments” and I think to a certain degree that continues to be true, and condominiums with the best-looking kitchens and bathrooms do get higher prices. Ceiling height is important and developments built with ceilings as low as 2.4 metres during the speculative boom in the 1980s don’t appeal to buyers as much as today’s developments with three metre plus ceiling heights. Buyers also want balconies not just because they want to sit in them but because they can open the doors to get natural ventilation. • Exterior Finish / Windows Purchasers have become more aware of the need for heat and sound insulation and some new developments have double glazed windows. There is some evidence that purchasers will pay for better quality windows with sound and heat insulation. Many new buildings have curtain wall cladding finishes rather than traditional blockwork. We have yet to see what the long-term cost of maintaining a curtain wall is compared to repainting blockwork and whether the type of external finish will start to affect resale prices due to potential maintenance costs. What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices13CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
15.
2 • Type of
Owner In Thailand, there is a 49% limit on foreign ownership, so in theory, there should be a premium for the foreign quota. This has happened in resort locations but to date, few condominium buildings in Bangkok have hit the maximum limit of foreign ownership and with a few exceptions, there is no premium for foreign quota resales. The potential for a “foreign quota premium” depends on the level of foreign demand and overall, this has not exceeded the amount of overall foreign quota supply to date. There does seem to be a premium for some buildings that have a high percentage of owner-occupiers, where fewer units come on the market for resale creating scarcity and in theory higher prices. Some end-user purchasers prefer buildings where most of the units are owner-oc- cupiers and most definitely don’t want to be in a building where some owners are illegally doing Airbnb short-term lets. In some buildings that are more than 20 years old such as Tower Park in Sukhumvit or Sathorn Park Place in Sathorn, internal markets have developed. These are where there are existing owner-occupiers who want to buy units in the building for their children to allow them to continue to live close together even when their children leave home. This creates a permanent level of demand for units in a building. • High Floor versus Low Floor When developers sell condominiums off-plan they usually increase the price for units higher up the building. Once a building is completed, there is mixed eviden- ce of higher prices being achieved for higher floors. Generally, high floors are preferred to low floors making them easier to resell. I think the key is view, if some floors have limited views because they are blocked by other neighboring buildings then they will achieve lower prices than units with a view, but there is no simple mathematical formula that says higher floors achieve higher prices. • View versus No View Scarcity drives up prices and there are some buildings with unique views that other buildings don’t have, for example views overlooking Lumpini Park, Benjakitti Park (The Tobacco Monopoly Lake), or the Chao Phraya River. These buildings or specifically units in these buildings with unique views can achieve prices higher than developments or units with no views. For most developments in Bangkok, owners must make do with a city skyline view but there does seem to be a premium for units with a view rather than, for example a unit in a low-rise building looking directly at a neighbouring building that is only six metres away. One thing to remember about a view is that unless the building directly fronts the park or river, then in the future that view might be obstructed by a new development. Tower Park Sathorn Park Place What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices14CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
16.
2 • Property Management
and Maintenance Every new building will one day become an old building in the eyes of Thai purchasers. This is why property management and maintenance are very important for price performance. Few people want to stay in a hotel where the common areas have not been fully renovated or upgraded for more than ten years and this is also the case with many condominiums. Entrance lobbies, lift cars, common corridors, car parks, landscaping, and facilities that are dated, poorly-maintained, and unattractive have a big negative effect on property values. Owners cannot make significant structural changes to rectify bad design but if they are also not willing to spend significant sums on the look and feel of common areas, then the building will commence a rapidly accelerating downward spiral until the units become almost unsellable. This is a big issue in Bangkok where co-owners have been unwilling to pay higher common area management fees or capital contributions to upgrade their building. In other countries this might result in co-owners finally agreeing to sell the building for redevelopment. That is unlikely in Bangkok where agreement from 100% of co-owners is required to dissolve a condominium. As anybody who has been a member of a condominium committee or has attended an owner’s annual general meeting in Thailand knows, getting 100% agreement from co-owners on anything is almost always impossible. It is not just the look and feel of the building that requires capital spending. Many items of building equipment wear out including lift cables and motors, water and fire pumps, transformers, common area air-conditioning, and fire alarm systems. At some stage in the life of a building all these will need replacing otherwise the building will become uninhabitable or unsafe. There have only been strata title condominium buildings in Thailand since 1979 and the oldest buildings now need major upgrades. Owners will have to spend money to preserve or increase the value of their units, but in many buildings, co-owners are unwilling to spend sufficient amounts to maintain and improve the common areas of the property and the building becomes increasingly unattractive compared to newer or better maintained developments. This “willful obsolescence” is, in my opinion and that of many of my colleagues, the biggest factor in determing the price of older buildings. For under-construction or recently completed buildings, developers spend significant amounts in promoting the building’s unique selling points. Once the developer has transferred all the units, marketing stops. This is why new buildings catch buyers’ attention but older developments, unless they have built a “word of mouth” reputa- tion for quality from occupiers and potential purchasers, tend to fade away reducing the property’s exposure and image to potential buyers. • Parking I think the number of car parks affects price. Many condominiums with many small units do not have one car parking space per unit. At the top-end of the market most people still own a car even if they use mass transit for some journeys. In the mid-market sector it still very important to have a parking space. This means that the best buildings need one-vehicle parking spaces per one-be- droom unit and two- vehicle parking spaces for three- bedroom units. For owners to know exactly which space to park their vehicles, car parks should be allocated for exclusive use. What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices15CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
17.
2 I do not
think there is a big difference in value if the car park is private property with a title deed for each space or simply an allocated space in the common area, provided that the car park is exclusively for the use of the unit owner. High land prices mean developers are now building automatic parking systems to increase the density of parking. My colleagues believe there is still a preference from users for traditional ramped parking. • Branding There are now three branded residences that have been completed; the Sukhothai Residences, the Residences at the St. Regis Bangkok, and the Ritz-Carlton Residences at MahaNakhon. There are also four branded developments under construction; the Four Seasons Private Residences, the Residences at Mandarin Oriental Bangkok, Banyan Tree Residences Riverside Bangkok, and the Residences at Sindhorn Kempinski Hotel. The drivers of price in these projects are that purchasers believe that the brands underwrite the quality of the project and that the brand would only agree to license their name and manage the property if they were confident that the quality matches their brand image. Secondly, purchasers believe that the hotel brand will provide a superior level of property management particularly hotel-like soft services such as a concierge. To date, the evidence has been that branded properties achieve higher initial sales prices than unbranded properties in a similar location and have achieved higher resale prices even for leasehold properties like the Residences at the St. Regis Bangkok. Scarcity creates value and there will only be a limited number of units managed by a brand in some cases limited to only one property per brand. Not every brand is equally attractive, and owners must agree to certain conditions in terms of maintenance and improvement budgets similar to the relationship between a hotel manager and a hotel property owner. The management fees of branded properties will generally be higher than non-branded ones, hence buyers pay more both in terms of price and ongoing costs. • Investment Yields Some condominium purchasers buy for rental income. The yield expressed as a percentage is the annual income divided by the price. On a simple basis, this is a gross yield without deductions for expenses or taxation but a more accurate measure of net yield is after deduction of operating expenses and taxation. In my ancient text book, “Modern Methods of Valuation”, it is stated that “the basic principle is that an investor wishes to invest capital to obtain an annual return thereon in the form of net income which represents an acceptable rate of return.” The yield is supposed to account for all the risk and reward factors including the potential for increases and decreases in future income. If the acceptable rate of return falls, then the price can go up even if net income remains the same. The total return on property has two components, income and capital gain. In my opinion, investment in Bangkok condominium property has increasingly been driven by the perceived potential for capital gain rather than rental returns. There has been little change in the total monthly rents paid by tenants for many years mainly due to the plentiful availability of supply. Yields have been steadily falling for years. Although the rental market has been flat, buyers have been willing to pay increasingly higher prices for new properties. Rental returns have not therefore had a significant effect on values. The perceived potential for capital gain has been the main incentive for buy-to-rent investors and reassures owner-occupier investors. What Drives Bangkok's Residential Condominium Prices16CBRE RESEARCH | © 2019 CBRE, Inc.
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