Thailand floods to boost demand for second homes, estate agent says

Oct 31, 2011, 11:51 GMT

Bangkok - Well-off Thais could be looking for more second homes outside the capital after this year's floods, a leading real estate consultant said Monday.

'Overall, the flooding will result in changes in demand patterns in the residential sector in terms of preferred locations and product,' CBRE Thailand said in a statement.

The second-home market in beach resorts to the east and west of the capital, where many people have taken refuge, will benefit from the crisis, the group said.

'Bangkok residents with disposable income will be inclined to purchase holiday homes out of Bangkok as many residents are now evacuating to Pattaya and Hua-Hin,' it said.

'Demand for high rise condominiums is likely to rise as people may want to buy them to use as a second home in the city center,' the international real estate consultancy added.

Residential buyers are also likely to pay more attention to properties' flood protection features in future, it said.

In the short term, however, the market was likely to slow as people recovered from the floods, the company said.

Central Thailand has been battered by the worse floods in decades this October, as a result of unusually heavy monsoon rains and the release of water from dam reservoirs in the north.

The floods have claimed at least 381 lives, caused an estimated 500 billion baht (16.6 billion dollars) in damage and inundated outlying parts of the political and economic capital Bangkok.

Authorities have managed to prevent floodwaters from entering inner Bangkok, where most government buildings, office buildings and upmarket residential neighbourhoods are located, but significant quantities of water were still approaching the city from the north.