Boosted by a thriving economy and a population brimming with rich retirees, working expatriates and prosperous business people, the once sleepy fishing village of Pattaya is now attracting savvy residential investors taking advantage of luxury condominiums launched on the market.
Investors from Asia and Europe make up the bulk of the money pouring into Pattaya, snapping up newly released projects off plan and finished products, which is feeding a strong resale and rental environment.
Pattaya is just a two-hour drive south from Bangkok (and about 90 minutes from the city's new international airport) on the Gulf of Thailand's booming port area known as the eastern seaboard. The rapid expansion of the eastern seaboard into Thailand's main port and industrial area has seen the need for an across-the-board rise in accommodation standards.
The developer believed to have started the growth in Pattaya's luxury residential market is Raimon Land. The company launched the city's first real gradeA condominium project in 2003 with Northshore that has seen resale capital gains reach up to 80 per cent, according to figures in the company's Why Invest...Pattaya research document.
With that success, Raimon Land chief executive Nigel Cornick recently announced three new projects in the resort city, the beachfront Northpoint (to be constructed by global conglomerate Bouygues) The Edge and the downtown The Lofts Southshore.
'With more than 6 million tourists a year and growing by another million visitors every two years, Pattaya is Thailand's premier tourism destination and among the top resorts in Southeast Asia,' Mr Cornick says.