Phuket's Condo Mania Continues With 1027 Patong Units On Offer

PHUKET: Another huge condo development is planned that will add 1027 units to Patong. Resort managements are concerned that the number of condos now planned for Phuket will inevitably cut into occupancy rates.

The latest announcement comes from Phanason, a developer with a good record on Phuket. The formal launch of the project has yet to happen, but sources say orders have been placed for 50 units already.

The Park Condominiums are to be built over 17 rai on Patong's Nanai Road, with seven buildings each of seven storeys envisaged.

Phanason is seeking Environmental Impact Assessment and other approvals from Bangkok, where large projects on Phuket now have to meet all regulatory conditions.

The Park will contain six different types of units, beginning at 1.9 million baht for an apartment of 40 square metres. The development will incldue a swimming pool, a fitness centre and a dining area.

Once the project is approved, construction will be finished in two years - hopefully by 2014, Phanason believes.

Many of the most recent large condo projects on Phuket have been snapped up by investors hoping to make a profit but there are now so many projects that concerns are increasing about a condo ''bubble.''

Resort managements are also alarmed because the condo owners are likely to offer rents that will be competitive with three-star and four-star resorts. The three-star market on Phuket is already under pressure.

Phuket Resorts 'Will Suffer if Condo Numbers Grow at Fast Rate'

PHUKET: The property industry on Phuket was destined for crisis if the growth in the condominium sector continued at present rates, the President of the property Association of Phuket, Thanusak Perkdate, warned today.

He told a meeting at Provincial Hall in Phuket City that the number of condos on Phuket was growing at more than 100 percent a year, much more than was needed.

Most of the units were being bought by Thais for investment, he said. The likelihood was that many of them would be rented out to rival resorts, triggering a different kind of market.

''There will be an effect on resorts at some point,'' he said. The number of condos on Phuket is not subject to controls. Nor is the growth in the number of resorts.

Prices for condos were between one million baht and two million baht, Khun Thanusak said, affordable by Phuket standards.

The market for more expensive villas had picked up by about 20 or 30 percent this year compared to last year, he said, despite the economic woes assailing Europe.

Phuket Condo Mania Here to Stay

PHUKET: The revolution in the Phuket condo market is expected to continue on June 1 with the launch of a new large Sansiri development that is likely to sell out within a day or so.

The dcondo Creek project in central Phuket contains 806 units with a 100-metre swimming pool at its heart and a time-payment deal that should attract both investors and would-be residents.

Sansiri has had remarkable instant success with its Phuket projects so far and the dcondo Creek development, previewed to Phuket's media today, seems likely to be snapped up with lightning speed off the plan.

Buyers pay as little as 999 baht for the first 10 months, creating the kind of interest in the Thai market especially that hasn't been seen at this intensity on Phuket before Sasiri's first offering last year.

The dcondo Creek will sit by dcondo Kathu in Vichitsongkran Road near the tessaban Kathu offices.

There are 750 studio units of 29 square metres and 50 two bedroom, two bathroom units of 60 square metres, in four blocks up to eight storeys in height.

Prices start at 1.1 million baht for the studio apartments - less if you want to bring your own furniture - and 2.5 million baht for the family apartments. Construction is expected to begin in October and finish within a year.

The complex will have keycard access, security cameras, a fitness centre, a lounge and a dining area.

Sales are scheduled to run from June 1 to June 3 but as with last year's offering, the whole project is expected to sell out in the first day.

Buyers of the initial dcondo offering were known to snap up 20 units as an investment, and some are said to have already taken a profit.

Price, product quality, group dependability and marketing technique give Sansiri a distinctive sales edge on a scale never before seen on Phuket in real estate.

Suriya Wannabuit, Executive Vice President - Project Management and Marketing Department of Sansiri Public Company Limited, said that he thought the central swimming pool took the dcondo Creek project to a new level.

''We will have to look carefully at what we can do to improve a very good product next time,'' he said.