The Hua Hin/Cha-am real-estate market continues to draw large numbers of buyers to this one remote, sleepy stretch of beach along the Gulf of Thailand.

Last year saw the launch of 1,200 condominium units in the area for an investment totalling Bt7 billion.

Both local and foreign buyers appear to be drawn by the relatively serene atmosphere, free of the catastrophic mass tourism and poor public-works plaguing badly run resort towns like Pattaya.

The latest beachfront condominium is by Charn Issara Development (CID) called Baan Chaan Talay, now being built on a 14 rai of beachfront plot.

The project comes on the back of CID's recently completed Baan Ploen Talay residential condominiums.

The older 8-rai beach property was fully booked before opening this year.

Ploen Talay was comparatively smaller, with 118 units priced from Bt2.25 million for a 50-square-metre studio unit.

The Chaan Talay project will have 175 units, and prices for its units will start from Bt2.9 million.

The architecture will be different from Ploen Talay's modern-contemporary style. Its designer, Habitat, will give the property a much more natural, earthy appearance.

It will look a bit like the Sri Panwa hill villas overlooking the sea, a project Habitat created for CID last year.

Chaan Talay's most expensive units will be two beachfront villas, each covering 400 square metres of usable space and selling for Bt40 million apiece.

CID managing director Songkran Issara said prices had climbed, because it was now most difficult to locate quality sites.

Massive land speculation over the past few years slowed the pace of development, and future prospects for property remain uncertain.

Still, Songkran said the outlook for this particular area remained brighter than for other tourist towns, since the Hua Hin/Cha-am area did not suffer from overbuilding and excessive tourism promotions like in more popular places. For many Thais, the Hua Hin/Cha-am zone is preferable, because of its proximity to Bangkok.

It does not suffer the terrible highway jams that have become a daily nightmare for commuters along Bang Na-Trat Road thanks to newly opened Suvarnabhumi Airport, which has ruined many pristine residential zones in eastern Bangkok.

Cha-am and Hua Hin have also retained their small-town features, despite the arrival of more local and foreign tourists.

The highway to Hua Hin and Cha-am is considered a bit safer and less frightening to drive, because it is free of the container trucks and heavy industrial traffic that head towards the Eastern Seaboard.

Itthi C Tan

The Nation