Phuket, by this writers hand in 2009 adopted a permanent “summer” season having canceled the low season and if the latest tourism numbers are anything to go by, it seems to be working as Phuket becomes an annual destination. This last few weeks has been crazy busy, with friends from all over the globe here in Phuket soaking up great hotel rates that are down on average 9% y-y.
The discovery of Phuket by Australians in 2010 with new direct flights showed a 30% increase in arrivals y-y, happy cashed up Aussies who have benefited from the resource boom and are buying quality, high-end apartments and villas.
Hong Kong, with its increasing air pollution is still the main property feeder and there have been, quietly, a few very top tier property transactions in the plus USD10mn bracket. The near sell out internally of the Amanpuri Phase three this year also augers well for the super high end of the market.
Even with the mother of all storms last week we enjoyed some delightful sunshine in the mornings and with its escaping clutch a calm and summery week followed. The west coast beaches were high season quality, charter boats have been frolicking in Phang Nga Bay, local restaurants are busy and there has been some great surf….all good news in the run up to September school holidays and a fresh influx of family visitors.
Phuket has a spring in her step, she is upbeat, positive, enthusiastic and full of enjoyment.
October is usually our wettest month, bringing much needed water reserves to our dams and then were back into a busy high season again and 2011.
Our eco-campaign and the island’s awareness of all things green is highlighted daily with cleaner roads, beaches and towns and a much more proactive local government. We note that roadside litter is collected every couple of weeks, with a sharp drop off in litter finding its way back into the oceans.
There is a distinct thawing in the Phuket property market with solid purchasing and good deals to be had. The quality end of the market remains in demand, so long as sellers are reasonable. A few sellers somehow missed the Global Financial Crisis cocooned and cosseted on a yacht off Sardinia for the last 18 months as some agents still promote wildly inflated prices, but in the main prices are reasonable despite dwindling land resources and tougher build codes on new builds.
Our pipeline of new projects is starting to build momentum, with four new luxury residential resorts with around 120 managed villas at the planning stage. We expect the first to launch in 2011 which will ignite a fire under Phuket real estate. These new resorts leverage Phuket’s ten year design and building experience to create exciting new destinations integrating smart, efficient, honest homes that are built for family entertaining, designed to be low maintenance, and detailed as income-producing 5 star rental properties.
Phuket Island’s luxury rental market continues to grow probably 30-40% annually with a broad international clientele who seek large, private homes for family get-togethers and long vacations. A number of the high end rentals are now 3-6 weeks, a trend that was not evident before and is becoming more like the Hamptons with daily rates giving way to weekly/monthly rental packages.
The latest hotel research piece from Phuket local Bill Barnett shows that Phuket is enjoying higher occupancy as a result of increasing Asian short haul travelers, bringing with it a raft of new visitors from India, the Middle East, Korea and China.
Our island is within easy distance of most of Asia with 220 million people living within a 5 hour flight and offers a happy, clean & green healthy hub to base yourself, put the kids to school and buy that family house you have been dreaming about. The Thai baht has been a safe haven in USD weakness and politically and economically Thailand is getting a secure footing again.
It’s a good time to be a buyer!
About the Author:
Nick Davies is managing director of Indigo Real Estate in Phuket, Thailand.
Here is the original post:
One long summer in Phuket…
Although the current outlook for Thailand property has taken a knock and the current political situation needs to be followed closely by potential Thailand property investors, the country’s property market should not be overlooked.
Being a developing country, the cost of property in Thailand is much lower than in the more developed European markets. But, on the other hand, prices for Thai property, in general, are rising at a much faster rate.
