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Political Uncertainty Dampening Office Demand
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Author Archive for James Pitchon
James Pitchon is an Executive Director of CBRE Thailand. He has been responsible for the co-ordination of more than 1,000 multi-national corporation property transactions in Thailand over the last nineteen years. He is also a board director of CBRE Vietnam, CBRE Cambodia and the BCCT. He is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS).
International Passenger Arrivals Increase in March
By James Pitchon on Apr 27, 2010 in Hotel-Tourism
International passenger arrivals to Bangkok Airport increase by 13% in March and International arrivals to Phuket increase by 39% The total number of disembarking international passengers at Suvarnabhumi Airport in March 2010 was 1,414,916 compared to 1,254,193 in March 2009 a 13% increase. The number of total number of disembarking domestic passengers at Suvarnabhumi Airport [...]
International Passenger Arrivals Increase in Feb.
By James Pitchon on Mar 18, 2010 in Hotel-Tourism
International passenger arrivals to Bangkok Airport increase by 25% in February and International arrivals to Phuket increase by 71% The total number of disembarking international passengers at Suvarnabhumi Airport in February 2010 was 1,397,638 compared to 1,120,310 in February 2009 a 25% increase. The number of total number of disembarking domestic passengers at Suvarnabhumi Airport [...]
Tax Incentives to End for the Property Sector
By James Pitchon on Feb 23, 2010 in Property News
According to the Bangkok Post the deputy finance minister Pradit Phataraprasit announced that the tax incentives for property will end on March 28, 2010. This means that transfer tax will go back up to 2% of assessed value from 0.01%. Certain vendors including property developers will pay 3.3% specific business tax up from 0.11%. Mortgage registration [...]
International Passenger Arrivals Increase in Jan 2010 Compared to Jan 2009
By James Pitchon on Feb 19, 2010 in Hotel-Tourism
The number of disembarking international passengers at Suvarnabhumi Airport was 1,519,488 in January 2010 up 24% compared to January 2009 when we still feeling the effects of the December 2008 Airport closure. Domestic passenger disembarkations at Suvarnabhumi Airport were 551,954 compared to 386,637 in January 2009. Bangkok’ Don Muang airport has minimal international passengers. Domestic [...]
Phuket Looks Set For a Full House at Chinese New Year
By James Pitchon on Feb 11, 2010 in Hotel-Tourism
Khun Bang-Orn Chinaprayoo the tourism authority director in Phuket announced on Wednesday February 10 that all hotel rooms in Phuket were fully booked for the Chinese New Year Weekend and that the average occupancy rate was 90%. A quick check on Booking.com seems to confirm the story with many hotels saying they have few available [...]
A Small Bit of Good News for the Industrial Estate Sector
By James Pitchon on Feb 10, 2010 in Industrial
The Industrial estate sector has been dominated by the fall out from the suspension of projects at Map Ta Phut and concerns about Japanese companies losing confidence in Thailand as a manufacturing location. Finally we have a little bit of good news. Hutchinson Technology (Thailand) has committed 4.3 billion baht to build a hard disk [...]
Thailand Needs to Attract More Chinese Tourists
By James Pitchon on Feb 10, 2010 in Hotel-Tourism
China outbound tourists reached 47.66 million in 2009 up 4% on 2008 according to the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA). In the first 11 months of 2009 total Chinese visitors to Thailand were only 683,781 and 778,337 for the whole of 2008. The China Tourism Academy (CTA) forecasts that there will be 54 million outbound [...]
What do you get for your money in Lockhart Rd., HKG??
By James Pitchon on Feb 05, 2010 in Retail
CB Richard Ellis Hong Kong recently sold Number 514 Lockhart Road in Hong Kong for 28 million Hong Dollars for a 921 square foot site. As you can see from the picture it’s not a prime property and anyone familiar with Hong Kong would know that Lockhart Road is a secondary retail location. In Thai terms [...]
The Renaissance Ratchaprasong Has a Soft Opening
By James Pitchon on Feb 04, 2010 in Hotel-Tourism
The Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprasong Hotel has now opened. Renaissance is in the Marriott stable of brands. The property, located on Ploenchit Road next to the Maneeya Centre office building, has 275 Rooms, 58 suites and 19,999 square metres of meeting space. A quick check on their reservation website showed a room rate of 5,999 baht [...]
Ford is Threatening to Relocate
The Bangkok Post reports that Ford is threatening to relocate their proposed project There was a very worrying article in the Bangkok Post on February 3rd suggesting that Ford would shift new investment to other countries unless the Thai government resolved issues at Map Ta Phut. Initially the problems were limited to the Map Ta [...]
LPN Purchase Another Development Site
By James Pitchon on Feb 02, 2010 in Residential
LPN’s purchase of another development site, this time on Rama IV Road in downtown Bangkok shows more confidence in Thai property market. LPN acquired a 1,704 square wah site for 255,600,000 baht equating to 150,000 baht per square wah according to a report made to the Stock Exchange of Thailand on January 28, 2010. LPN [...]
LPN Announced Site Acquisition at Bang Khae
By James Pitchon on Jan 29, 2010 in Residential
LPN Development Public Company Limited announced details of their latest land purchase to The Stock Exchange of Thailand, a 3,194 square wah (12,776 square metre) site at Bang Khae for 102 million baht (32,000 baht per square wah). The date of the transaction was October 26, 2009. The company will develop 4 low-rise 8 storey [...]
Final Tourist Numbers for 2009
By James Pitchon on Jan 24, 2010 in Hotel-Tourism
Final tourist numbers for 2009 better than expected based on airport passenger arrivals Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited have now completed statistics for aircraft movements and passenger disembarkation and embarkation for the whole of 2009. The headline numbers for Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport were 181,522 international aircraft movements (arrivals and departures) a fall of only [...]
The New Land Tax Law
By James Pitchon on Jan 21, 2010 in Investment-Land
The government seems intent on proposing a new tax on land and property which if implemented could have a significant impact on the property market. Driving around Bangkok or viewing the city using Google Earth reveals a large number of empty land plots that one would not see in other cities. Traditionally Thais have invested [...]
