Foreign buyers are beginning to return to the property market in Thailand, but sentiment remains cautious compared with the enthusiasm shown before the global economic crisis three years ago.
Amous Lee Tarn-siong, international property investment director for consultancy Knight Frank, said the number of overseas homebuyers in Phuket - a hot spot for foreign investors who target holiday homes - was now 35 to 40 per cent lower than before the financial turmoil in 2008.
But this had already improved noticeably from a year ago when there was political unrest and violence in Bangkok, he added. Then, the number of overseas buyers was down about 55 per cent from their pre-financial crisis level.
'The confidence of foreign investors, including those from Hong Kong and the mainland, is slowly climbing,' he said.
Knight Frank recently hosted a two-day showcase in Hong Kong to promote Banyan Tree's luxury properties in Phuket, Bangkok, and other destinations in Asia. The broker sold five properties in Phuket and Bangkok for a total of US$9 million, which was two to three times better than its expectation of US$3 million to US$4 million. Three of the buyers were Hongkongers while the others were an expatriate and a mainlander.
James Pitchon, executive director of CB Richard Ellis Thailand, said the global financial turmoil drove a lot of foreign buyers away. Before the crisis, about 40 per cent of the homebuyers in Thailand were foreigners, he said, compared with 16 per cent now.