Thailand
Thailand: Altitude to retain focus on low-rise housing
Property developer Altitude Development Co is pressing ahead with low-rise housing projects, joint ventures and turnkey projects as this strategy is less risky during a pandemic.
Chief executive Chayaphon Hunrungroj said all the new projects the company plans to launch this year and next year are low-rise homes, including single-detached houses and townhouses in the mid to upper-end segment.
“We will consider a new condo project next year as this market remains sluggish,” he said. “This year, we will focus on low-rise homes for new launches and clearing the condo inventory.”
The company plans to launch two new townhouse projects worth a combined 1 billion baht under a new brand, including one in the Ari area with 10 units priced from 28 million baht and another in the Ratchadaphisek area which has 39 units priced at 15 million baht.
It also has four projects worth a combined 2.28 billion baht in the pipeline but these are dependent on the market sentiment which is downbeat because of the third wave.
The locations are Salaya, Wireless Road, Bang Na and Krungthep Kreetha Road.
Managing director Kwanchai Yingchareonthawornchai said the two new projects this year and four sites in the pipeline are joint ventures with landlords.
“Many landlords have land banks but no experience in development. They do not want to sell land so they can either partner with us or let us do a turnkey project,” he said.
Mr Kwanchai said there are three turnkey models. Landlords invest with their land bank and Altitude will invest to develop it or a landlord can invest any portion of equity and Altitude will do the rest.
“Some landlords, most of whom are family members want to purely invest. They let us manage property development and we will charge a management fee,” he said. “The minimum size we target are projects valued at least 300 million baht or with land valued 60 million baht.”
Landlords in the previous projects under Altitude in 2019-20 included jeweller Beauty Gems, gold and jewellery retailer Aurora and insurance brokerage firm TQM.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2118739/altitude-to-retain-focus-on-low-rise-housing