(1) That 5,000 doesn't include row house apartments, which would double that number.More than 5,000 condominium units have been launched since 2003 in Pattaya with 72% in the low-end segment below three million baht per unit [Jil: $80,000], according to research by Raimon Land Plc. However, there has been an increase in medium- to high-end developments priced from 3-10 million baht [Jil: $80,000–$280,000], in the last six months, representing 18% of the total supply.
(2) That 5,000 doesn't include vaporware apartments, which have already been sold and would also double that number.
(c) Obviously that 5,000 doesn't include houses, which would also double that number.
(d) It doesn't include the approximately 5,000 condos which are currently sitting empty on the market.
(e) Probably doesn't include the 1,000-or-so "serviced apartments" (long-term hotels) constructed recently, which are also becoming quite popular.
(f) Also keep this in mind: Of those 5,000 apartments, I'm willing to bet that Pattaya's 500 regular real estate players probably purchased about half of them.
Current prices for the low-end apartments in Pattaya are expensive really. Brokers are looking for $50,000 now to sell you a hotel-room-sized (400 square feet) studio condominium. (That's the "low-end segment" they are referring to.) It's not bad compared to New York City, but considering that this is Thailand, you would hope to get more value for your money.
Basically, it seems that the more you spend on a property in Pattaya, the more value you get for your money, with the real deals starting to come (at least by my view) at about the $300,000 mark. If you have a million dollars to put into a property (barely the average cost of a house in the Bay Area of California) you can essentially purchase any house (or penthouse) in Pattaya that your heart desires.
Of course, I think that the really smart folks are finding other beaches around Thailand (or discovering the gorgeous mountains in the North of the country) to build their dream houses. To hell with a condo. Construction costs for the average turn-key house in Thailand are $25 per square foot for the empty shell, and another $25 per square foot to make it fabulous. Add to that the fact that land in Pattaya going at $125 per square foot (or higher... much higher), as opposed to the countryside where land is $0.125 per square foot, and it really makes you wonder:
Who on earth would buy a 2000-square-foot condo or house in Pattaya for $500,000 when you can go a mile down the road and build the same house (or something that you like even better) for half the cost, or go 100 miles down the road and build the same house for a tenth of the cost?
All over Thailand, it is becoming easier and easier to find European food, European television, European amenities, and Thai people who are used to taking care of Europeans. The house that you build out in the middle of Nakon Nowhere today will likely be within driving distance of every consumer item and passtime that Anytown, U.S.A. has to offer within 10 years. Even the remote little city of Petchabun where Pui comes from has Tesco.
Anyway, I'll always have a reason to hang out in Pattaya, and I do enjoy living here, but when it comes to finding my dream house, it won't be in the city of Pattaya... not with the other options both immediately nearby and farther out.
**After just 10 days of being published on-line, the link to the original story is already broken. This link is to a website who copied and pasted the story.
1 comment:
Good point, you are a seasoned guest of Thailand.
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