Thailand records a drop in the sale of used homes

A survey by Thailand’s Real Estate Information Center (REIC) revealed there was a drop in the sales of used homes throughout the kingdom in the third quarter of last year.

REIC acting director-general Vichai Viratkapan reckons the decrease is down to the cut in transfer and mortgage fees, the easing of loan-to-value (LTV) limits, and an increase in second-hand home transfers.

“The number of second-hand homes transferred in the third quarter of 2022 increased from the first and second quarters. It was also 15% higher than in the third quarter of 2021.

“The year-on-year increase is down to owners and buyers accelerating transactions to benefit from the measures which ended on December 31, 2022.

“They included a cut in transfer and mortgage fees from 2% and 1% to 0.01% each for a property priced at 3 million baht or less which just covered used homes, effective from January 18, 2022.

“Another was an expiration of the easing of the LTV limits on December 31, 2022.

“The property measures were extended another year, yet with a change which is a cut in the transfer fee from 2% to 1%, no longer 0.01%. But the impact on the property market will be the end of the easing of the LTV limits.”

REIC scoured the nation’s major property websites and those owned by financial institutions, asset management firms and legal departments to conclude its survey, reported Bangkok Post.

The survey revealed that previously owned homes offered for sale dropped 3.3% at the end of the third quarter last year in terms of the number of units to 162,923 and fell by 3.4% in terms of value to 962.2 billion baht when compared with the second quarter.

The largest number was single detached houses, followed by condos and then townhouses.

The largest category of homes offered for sale was priced at 1 million baht or below, followed by those priced between 2-3 million baht and 3-5 million baht.

Almost all categories experienced a quarter-on-quarter decrease in sales, including single detached houses (-4%), townhouses (-3.3%), and condos (-3.1%). The only exceptions were shophouses, which saw a 0.8% increase, and duplex houses, which saw a 3.5% increase.

The province with the highest number of second-hand homes for sale was Bangkok, which had 59,181 units worth a total of 606 billion baht. This accounted for 36% and 63%, respectively, of the total number and value of homes offered for sale.

The top 10 provinces made up 71% of the total number of homes and 88% of the total value.

These provinces, ranked by value, were Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, Chon Buri, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Rayong, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Khon Kaen.

The second to tenth provinces made up less than 10% each in terms of both the number and value of homes offered for sale.

The top three provinces that saw the largest quarter-on-quarter drop in unit value were Phuket, Chiang Mai, and Chon Buri, with decreases of 14.1%, 9.7%, and 7.2%, respectively.