subject: Property Investors Target Asian Market [print this page] Property investors looking to buy abroad are increasingly looking to Asia, where Thailand and India both made it on to the list of the ten most searched destinations for the first time.
The Top of the Props survey for the month of March from TheMoveChannel, which ranks the most popular destinations on their portal, placed India in eighth position and Thailand in ninth position. These showings represented remarkable rises for both countries.
For the month of February, India was in 18th position, which already represented a surge of four places up the chart. But the improvement in March was even greater as India climbed 10 places.
Thailand rises seven places
Thailand's rise was almost as steep. For February it was in 16th position and rose seven places a month later into ninth place. Although Thailand has been a regular presence in TheMoveChannel Top 20, it had never climbed so high in the global rankings. The number of enquiries grew by 0.63 per cent in March, which was enough to pass long-standing rivals such as Cyprus, Germany and Cape Verde.
India has consistently attracted more and more attention from buyers, with its share of TheMoveChannel's enquiries almost doubling from 1.18 per cent in August 2011 to March's 2.06 per cent.
Spain and the US continued to hold onto first and second place, with Spanish property actually increasing its share of enquiries to 4.68 per cent on TheMoveChannel, which has more than 400,000 listings in more than 100 countries.
The website's director Dan Johnson said both Thailand and India had always had an exotic appeal for investors and ex-pats. He said that one third of Thai property was owned by foreigners. Johnson said buyers' renewed enthusiasm for Thailand was related to the country's strong emergence from its flood-related economic problems last year. The tough property markets in Europe also pushed buyers further east.
Fair valuations
Meanwhile, Macquarie Equities Research confirmed its confidence in the dynamism of the Thai property sector. The broker said valuations were fair, with the sector's weighted average 2012 estimated price-to-earnings ratio at 11.6 and 2013 at 9.7 versus the historical mean of 11.6.
It expects demand to pick up in 2012 backed up by pent-up demand from the flood problems in the fourth quarter of 2011 and the resumption of organic economic growth of 4-5 percent per annum.
A further fillip for the Thai market was Tesco's successful float of its Thai property fund last month. The fund is benefiting from the retailer's strong prospects in the country.
Investor confidence
All of which is great news for investors in Thailand's property market. One area which has had a real growth spurt in recent years is the idyllic island of Phuket. This popular tourist destination is increasingly sought after by high-end investors and it has several new luxury properties on the market.
One classy development which has attracted a lot of attention is the Singapore-based Castlewood Group's 8over8 Hotel. It has 151 suites, 19 stakeholders suites, the hotel is focused on less keys more service it's facilities including infinity edge roof top pools and fine dining with menus created by world leading celebrity chefs. It's also located in the beautiful area of Bang Tao beach, close to the Laguna Resort, which is popular with Chinese tourists.
"Phuket is receiving a lot of interest from the Chinese market because of its beautiful beaches, coral reefs, wildlife, luxury resorts and exotic lifestyle. The 8over8 Hotel development is perfectly placed to tap into that rising interest," said Jarrat Beaumont, Castlewood Group's Sales Manager.
