Thailand seeks ‘Covid-19 bounce’ from property investors, upmarket tourists

Name: From Cold War to coronavirus, Thailand’s hero grandma fights to protect villagers from Covid-19
Uploaded: 2020-06-29T01:30:16.000Z
Duration: 3 min 12 s
Description: From Cold War to coronavirus, Thailand’s hero grandma fights to protect villagers from Covid-19

The kingdom has won praise for its handling of the pandemic, and is marketing itself as a safe, stable haven in turbulent times

It is looking to appeal to well-heeled buyers and travellers, as the days of banking on high volumes of low-paying visitors look to be over

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Real estate agents in Thailand say overseas buyers remain interested in property in the kingdom. Photo: Bloomberg

Vijitra Duangdee

Published: 9:30am, 29 Jun 2020Updated: 9:42am, 29 Jun 2020

With sea-view condos and golf courses being perused over video calls from the United States, Hong Kong and India, Thailand’s property market is hanging its hopes on a “Covid-19 bounce” from foreign buyers scouring an uncertain world for a safe haven during the pandemic.

The Southeast Asian kingdom has won praise for its handling of the public health crisis. It swiftly closed its borders and has recorded just 3,156 cases and 58 deaths, despite detecting the first coronavirus case outside China, and has not had a locally transmitted case for nearly a month.

“We have shown to the world that this is the safest place for people to live, invest and travel,” said Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul in a recent Facebook Live interview, raising the prospect of the imminent return of medical tourists and businessmen to inject life into Thailand’s battered economy.

The aim is to reopen borders within weeks to arrivals from the likes of Japan, Hong Kong and Vietnam, forming a “travel bubble” of regions in Asia that have similarly low infection rates. With a clear Covid-19 test, those visitors would not need to endure a 14-day quarantine.

Thailand’s real estate agents are ready. “We’re all waiting for the travel ban to be lifted so buyers can come in to complete deals,” said Scott Tanner, a sales executive of Elite Properties Pattaya. He added that in recent weeks there had been a surge in inquiries for discounted condos, while one Indian investor was seeking to buy a 160-hectare golf course.

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From Cold War to coronavirus, Thailand’s hero grandma fights to protect villagers from Covid-19

Before the pandemic, the strong Thai baht and the US-China trade war had trimmed spending from Chinese buyers who had previously hoovered up condos across Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya.

While those looking to flip cheap condos are not expected to return soon, CBRE Thailand managing director Aliwassa Pathnadabutr said luxury buyers were looking for “second homes [and] a safe haven of location, culture, value for money and lifestyle”.