The real estate market in Thailand and particularly in areas like Pattaya and Phuket has been, to put it mildly, difficult over the past couple of years.
We all know that the changing demographic situation of the property market in Pattaya has heavily confused and unbalanced a once thriving industry. However, it is a widely accepted theory that the opening up of the ASEAN economies and the investment in infrastructure between Pattaya and Bangkok will lead to a return to property purchasing and an increase in property prices.
What is needed is a fluid marketing strategy that takes into account the new demographic that is currently out there. What was once a marketplace driven by European expats and Russian tourists has now changed to one of Chinese, Thais, weekend Bangkokians and the gradual return of the Russians.
Chinese Buyers
Of the 29.88 million tourists arrivals in Thailand in 2015, a whopping 13% were Chinese.
China has rated Thailand as their number one international tourist destination. And in an online contest in May 2014, China voted Pattaya their favourite destination in Thailand.
However, it is not these Chinese that are currently buying property in Thailand. These tourists hardly step foot outside their hotels unless attending a pre-arranged event paid as part of their holiday package.
The Chinese who are buying property do so from inside China, via Chinese and Thai agents.
Thai Buyers
In the past few years the Thai developers saw a niche in the Pattaya Property market and that was to offer homes for Thai nationals for 1 million THB. This was a totally different policy that the other developers were using.
Thai buyers prefer to visit the area they are interested in buying, and look at billboards by the roadside. Then they go to the agent or developer and view either the marketing suite or the property itself.
These buyers often are Bankokians looking for a weekend or holiday home and the price bracket is ideal.
Western Buyers
The expat or prospective investor from Europe and Russia tend to do their homework at first using the web. Then when visiting Pattaya they track down the relative agents and try to strike a deal.
All this diversity rather confuses a previous fairly straightforward buyers market. To capture this diverse potential client base sellers must address each and every aspect and coordinate all components into a comprehensive overall strategy to eliminate costly duplication.
Times have changed in the Pattaya and Thailand Property Market, sales have been tough to come by. But some of that is due to the developers and agents truly not knowing how to capture the correct market for what they are offering.
There are some extremely good indicators that point to economic growth in Thailand and a resurgence in the tourist industry is one of them. The continued development of infrastructure between Bangkok and Pattaya also highlights that government also believes this.