It is a good time to buy property in Thailand. Banks are lending & property prices are now dropping due to the insecurity of the present economic situation. However only if you have the spare cash but don't look at condos as a cash earning venture unless you get a bargain from an outgoing expat etc. The worse hightmare will be the Management themselves in Thailand as many condo complexes have bad management and sinking funds are not used appropriately. When buying check out and talk to other owners in the building and especially about maintenance & other project\s the owner has. He/she may have over committed?? Thailand SET index has also been dropping as foreign investment is tending to shift to other countries. The situation with The Baht, and the USA and Japan's firm belief in defending the Yen,  won't change much from what it is. If anything perhaps few Baht swing only.  LAND AREAS: 1 rai = 4 ngarn = 400 wah2 = 1600 m2; 1 talang wah = wah2 = 4 m2; 1 acre = 2.53 rai & 1 ha = 6.25 rai 

To date foreigners may own

  - a unit in a registered Condominium

  - a building (as distinct from its land)

  - a registered leasehold of up to 30 years for all types of titled land (and/or buildings).

  - a company can purchase land and buildings 49% foreign shareholding but must carry out business as well.

  - not more than 49% of a condominium unless done in Company form or BOI.

  - 49% max of land/ buildings in a company or BOI

  - 1 Rai of land if they invest 40m baht in Thailand.

  - Usufract Interest or (sidhikepkin)  allows a foreigner to have temporary ownership to certain things in Thailand. Its really limited to 30 years but can be renewed just like a lease.

However, a 30-year lease can be a good idea with right to renewal to a freehold purchase, or a Thai company (7 PARTNERS) can be established with Thai majority shareholders. Foreigners own 49% shares in the company buying land but we can assist you to make sure your company is safeguarded. Remember if you need advice check first before you commit yourself.

NEW ZEALAND HOUSING SITUATION FOR HOME BUYERS MAY HAPPEN IN THAILAND

A Fairfax Media survey mortgage on a medium-priced house will suck up 80 per cent of an average New Zealander's weekly pay. October 2007
Housing affordability hit its lowest point on record in the middle of the year, a median income will not cover repayments on a median-priced house with enough left to live on, even with a 20 per cent deposit.
Even first-home buyers, shopping in the bottom 25 per cent of houses, will have to shell out 71 per cent of their pay packet every week. "In just about every regional market, you would need two incomes". A household would need a take-home weekly pay packet of $1373 to afford a median house, priced at $351,500 in September 2007. The figure was 23 per cent higher than the amount a household needed in September last year - $1117 - and more than double the $618 necessary weekly income required five years ago.  

Housing are less affordable than ever before and that will not change. "The gap is too big, you would have to have a catastrophic fall in house prices to make it a comfortable figure for people. I can't see that happening." An October ANZ property report said property prices were flattening out, but with a booming economy and strong Government spending, there was little room for the Reserve Bank to reduce interest rates. Pressure from immigrants and expat Kiwis returning home would continue as New Zealand property continued to be cheap on a global scale, the report said. But increasing prices of commodities such as food and fuel would take up extra disposable income and accelerate the problem. New Zealand had been going backward on the home ownership rate compared with other countries.

Homeowners in Auckland NZ now need more than twice the average weekly wage to pay off their mortgages, with a mortgage on a median-priced house - $445,000 - now sucking up 93.7 per cent of an average Aucklander's weekly pay, up 16 per cent on the previous year. That means a couple or family would need to earn at least $1748 in take-home pay to comfortably afford mortgage repayments. First-home buyers fared only slightly better, with the lowest-end homes now taking about 71 per cent of a pay packet. Along with Auckland, Central Otago was the least affordable region, while Manawatu/Wanganui, Otago and Southland, have the most affordable housing, despite home loan affordability in the Southland region reaching a record 48.2 per cent after an 11 per cent rise in the median house price in September.

"So even in those places where you used to be able to go to get affordable housing it's closing off. The bar is getting higher month by month,". Wellingtonians now spend 79.6 per cent of their weekly pay, just below the national 80 per cent, paying off their home.

THE OUTLOOK FOR HOMEBUYERS IS GRIM IN NZ

* It now takes 80 per cent of one householders income to pay the mortgage on a moderately priced house in New Zealand. In Thailand it is approx 50- 60% but this could change as the cost of living increases..

* Four years ago it took 43.2 per cent (a reading above 40 per cent is unaffordable) and one year ago 67.9 per cent

* The average house price in September 2007 was $351,000. In Auckland it was $441,000 and Wellington $380,000

* The average house price in Auckland is now 11 times the average income. (An affordable home is considered one that costs less than three times before the tax take-home pay). In Bangkok property continues to rise for houses well above expectations in inner Bangkok.

* The average weekly take-home pay for a typical buyer was $736 in September, up $30 on 2006, while the average interest rate for a two-year fixed mortgage was 9.113 per cent, 108 basis points higher than one year ago. In Bangkok average take home pay is 12-60,000baht per month but th interest rates are low and relative to wage ratios at the moment.