Hua Hin Propety Upsurge

[troopie]

Boathouse taps upsurge in Hua Hin

NINA SUEBSUKCHAROEN, Bangkok Post

Hua Hin _ While the focus of many people's attention has naturally been on the parts of the country severely affected by the December tsunami, the real estate and tourism sector in Hua Hin has been quietly benefiting from a shift in interest from southern resorts.

``Figures of people staying in hotels and resorts show that on ordinary and long weekends there are practically no vacancies, all full,'' Phetchaburi governor Prasong Pitulkitja said at the recent opening of The Boathouse Hua Hin showroom.

Even on weekdays, he said, occupancies in the Hua Hin and Cha-am area were around 60-70% compared with last year when the rate for the low season was around 40%.

``There are many new projects,'' he said. Among these are a proposed causeway to link Bangkok to Cha-am, and two or three more five-star hotels, with one party having already purchased the land.

Agreeing that this was a good opportunity to buy property in Hua Hin and Cha-am, Mr Prasong pointed out that a lot of foreigners with Thai spouses had bought houses in the popular resort.

``I once asked foreigners why they didn't go to Phuket or Chiang Mai and their reply _ `Because Their Majesties the King and Queen live here' _ really moved me. It's beautiful and safe,'' he said.

The governor urged visitors not to create pollution in the beach areas of both Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan provinces and maintain the environment for others who come after them. ``When you go to caves and up the hills, take care of the environment, especially cleanliness. Dispose of waste properly.''

Cha-am district chief Phinit Harnphanit said the planned elevated gulf motorway would be an additional selling point in drawing tourists to Thailand because the country did not have anything such as this engineering phenomenon.

It would be additionally attractive if the government created points along the way where people could stop and enjoy the view, especially since it would be in the middle of the sea, and allowed for retail outlets to be established, he said.

Having an immediate impact on the resort is the launch of The Boathouse Hua Hin, which is being developed by Praphaisith Tankeyura, a former president of Bank of Ayudhya, and the Chinthammitr family, a major shareholder of the Khon Kaen Sugar group. The very attractive conceptual design was worked out by Deva Studio Company headed by the famed architect M.L. Tridhosyuth Devakul.

Hua Hin's newest beachfront project covers 73 rai of land where 121 villas carrying price tags of 11 million baht and upward will be built. The attractive seaside homes with their unique roofs have living space of 190 to 300 square metres on land plots of 50 to 120 square wah. The complex will also have 383 condominium units in four 14-storey buildings. The first to be built will have 98 units and prices starting from 4.8 million baht.

Located near Palm Hill and Springfield golf courses, the project's biggest attraction is its design with a stunning 15,000 square metres for a free-form swimming pool that runs past every unit.

Somkiate Chinthammit, the project's director, said that in order to ensure privacy, a central park dotted with waterfalls had been arranged so that residents can walk to the beachfront without disturbing anyone.

A 20-metre artificial beach will be created next to the public beach with a glass-fronted gymnasium where residents can enjoy the sea view while working out.

Mr Praphaisith said construction of the infrastructure, model houses and mockup condominium units will start in July with this phase completed by year-end and the whole project ready by 2007.

Asked why a former banker is investing in real estate, Mr Praphaisith said: ``I think it's the beauty of turning land like this into a paradise within two-and-a-half years. ... I believe we will get a satisfactory return from this investment.''

In his view, the investment in this project, with the company having 200 million baht in registered paid-up capital, is a calculated risk.

``I was a banker for 25 years and I used to be Citibank's real-estate head so I think we know the risk and structure. This is a unique project because ours is the only villa-type project in Hua Hin; others only produce condominiums.''

With Knight Frank Chartered brought in to do the marketing and maintain the project after completion, it will also be sold in Hong Kong and Singapore. However, foreigners would only be able to buy condo units, as the developers are not working out long-term leasehold structures for the houses for foreigners.

``There should be interest here, as right now there are a lot of Scandinavians and Europeans in Hua Hin. They have moved in and settled down in Hua Hin, not by the beach but inside the city or near the hills,'' Mr Praphaisith said, adding the company was also holding talks with a hotelier to handle rentals for investors.

The former banker does not believe the Thai real-estate market will face a downswing soon but the impact of such an event will depend on which real-estate segment one has invested in. A study by Knight Frank shows that there is good demand for property priced from five to seven million baht in the beach resort.

``Even in the soft economic period seven years ago, prices of condominiums and resort houses in Hua Hin did not drop,'' he said.