Top Thailand Property News Of The Week - 5 Jul 2021

The top residential and commercial real estate news of the week - 5 July 2021

CBRE’s weekly property news snapshot features the latest residential and commercial real estate stories in Thailand and elsewhere that you cannot afford to miss - be it regarding residential, industrial, retail, office, hotel, land, or investment property.

Hotel chains warily eye expansion
Bangkok Post
Hotel chains continue to tread lightly to maintain liquidity, while cautiously rolling out expansion plans amid the pandemic, which has quickly deteriorated prospects for recovery.

Firms eye partial lockdown
Bangkok Post
Local businesses favour a partial lockdown, especially in areas with severe infection numbers to reduce the economic impact. Many business leaders warn a total nationwide lockdown would cause huge losses for the country's economy and massive harm for enterprises.

Sharge to launch utility token
Bangkok Post
Sharge Management Co, a provider of charging systems for battery-powered vehicles, is planning to launch Thailand's first ready-to-use utility token for use with a charging service in the third quarter this year.

Committee cuts GDP forecast to 0-1.5% amid latest outbreak
Bangkok Post
A private sector council has cut Thailand's economic growth projection this year to 0-1.5%, mainly due to the prolonged Covid-19 outbreak. The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB) decided to slash the country's gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for this year to 0-1.5% in Wednesday's meeting from an earlier estimate of 0.5-2%.

FTI urges the state to relocate factories
Bangkok Post
The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) has suggested that the government relocate factories out of residential areas, following the plastics factory inferno, to prevent accidents in the future. Some incentives should be offered to factory owners, including a 2% reduction of land tax and a reduction of corporate income tax.

Samui aims for 2,000 guests in 1st month
Bangkok Post
The Samui Plus model is aiming to attract 2,000 travellers in the first month of reopening as it banks on Phuket's success in order to ease rules which currently require tourists to stay in alternative local quarantines (ALQ) for the first seven days.

New factory registrations drop in Q3
Bangkok Post
The Covid-19 pandemic has presented an unpleasant picture for new factory registrations, with a sharp decrease in new factories and facility expansions in the third quarter of 2021, according to the Department of Industrial Works (DIW).

Phuket's sandbox 'could be better'
Bangkok Post
Phuket's sandbox tourism scheme is helping the province's economy recover although there is room for improvement, according to provincial governor Narong Wunsiew.

Phuket's long and winding road towards recovery
Bangkok Post
Despite tourism operators and tourism-related agencies giving their blood, sweat and tears to ensure that the Phuket sandbox scheme marked the country's reopening on July 1, their work is not yet complete. Instead, it just marks the beginning of a long road towards recovery.

Survey suggests hotels lacking liquidity
Bangkok Post
The remaining liquidity of most hotel operators means they will be able to cover operation costs for less than three months, a Bank of Thailand (BoT) survey suggests. The BoT surveyed 220 hotels, among which 17 were alternative state quarantines and three hospitals, between June 14-27.

Phuket Sandbox: hit or miss?
CBRE Thailand
Phuket Sandbox has officially started on July 1st, 2021 as a prototype model for the country’s reopening. Yet, it comes with various thresholds as determined by the government that, if exceeded, the model will be cancelled.

Factory blaze a wake-up call
Bangkok Post
As of press time yesterday, a massive blaze which began early yesterday morning at a plastic factory in Samut Prakan finally showed some sign of easing up. The fire was certainly not an ordinary incident, as hundreds of thousands litres of hazardous chemicals -- most of which were the carcinogenic, styrene monomers -- went up in smoke, causing severe air pollution.