Several developers in Khon Kaen are hopeful that the area’s improving economy will help them to sell a number of completed homes. Local media reported that nearly 4,000 completed units constructed during an earlier building boom in the northeastern province remain unsold.
The province’s housing surplus is split between condominiums and low-rise houses, Charnnarong Buristrakul, president of the Khon Kaen Real Estate Business Association, told the Bangkok Post. His organisation recently conducted a market survey that helped obtain the information.
Charnnarong noted that local developers as well as big players from Bangkok invested heavily in the province around the start of the decade as purchasing power in the region started to rise. Khon Kaen is home to an estimated 1.8 million people with 120,000 of those living in the Muang district.
The economy did not continue its strong performance and actually weakened during the past few years causing housing sales to come to a halt. Homebuyers in the area were also dealt a blow when banks became stricter about mortgage approvals. The Real Estate Business Association is confident that the measures taken by the current government will gradually improve purchasing power allowing for more people to buy a home. Additionally, farm incomes are expected to rise during the current harvest season.
Charnnarong told the newspaper that developers anticipate more liquidity in the market as household debt starts to lessen. A number of residents have finished paying off cars purchased under the previous government’s subsidy program for first-time car buyers meaning they will now have more cash available to purchase a home in the near future.
“Financial institutions have begun to recognise the improving situation so buyers don’t have to worry about getting a housing loan,” he pointed out. “Investors also are being more careful. A gradual recovery is what everyone would like to see.”
