Thai developer turns to Hong Kong, foreign buyers for upscale Bangkok project as Covid-19 crimps demand at home, slams hospitality sector

Name: Thailand testing more than 10,000 for Covid-19 after record daily spike of coronavirus cases
Uploaded: 2021-03-30T00:30:21.000Z
Duration: 1 min 50 s
Description: Thailand testing more than 10,000 for Covid-19 after record daily spike of coronavirus cases

Dusit International is redeveloping former hotel site in Bangkok’s CBD to diversify income as Covid-19 slams tourism and hotel industries

Company is marketing about a fifth of the units at Dusit Central Park project in Hong Kong from April 15

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Dusit International is diversifying into ‘branded residences’ segment to widen its income sources amid a slump in the hotel industry. Photo: Handout

Cheryl Arcibal

Published: 8:30am, 30 Mar 2021Updated: 8:43am, 30 Mar 2021

Dusit International is joining other Thai companies in tapping foreign investors by marketing its first residential project in Hong Kong after the Covid-19 pandemic crimped demand from local buyers and worsened a supply glut.

The hotel operator is building a 46 billion baht (US$1.48 billion) mixed-development project in the heart of Bangkok’s central business district, as part of an effort to speed up its income diversification plan, group chief executive officer Suphajee Suthumpun said.

The Dusit Central Park will have 406 residential units built on a 9.17-acre of land that formerly housed the iconic Dusit Thani Hotel, overlooking Lumpini Park. The project is expected to be completed by 2025 in a joint collaboration with local developer Central Pattana, she added.

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Thailand testing more than 10,000 for Covid-19 after record daily spike of coronavirus cases

About one-fifth of the units will be set aside to entice Hong Kong buyers during the company’s overseas marketing stopover in the Asian financial hub on April 15, Suthumpun added.

Thailand’s property market has been struggling even before the pandemic hit last year. Inventory of apartments and landed houses in Bangkok jumped 28 per cent in four years to 176,000 in 2019, according to Savills. Supply amounted to 86,000 units at the end of 2020, Colliers estimated. Visitor arrivals slumped last year to the lowest since 2008.

“Overall, our market for the midscale and even high-end could still take some time [to improve] because of the supply that flooded the market in recent years,” CEO Suthumpun said. The market may take two to three years to recover, based on economic projections, she added.

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At Dusit Central Park, the company is selling a 55 sq m (592 sq ft) one-bedroom unit at HK$4 million or about HK$72,730 per sq m. The lowest asking price for a flat on sale around Lumpini Park is about the equivalent of HK$62,205 per sq m.

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