The unit trust was traded at Bt10.30 at the opening bell and headed north further to the day's high of Bt10.40 before weakening to finish the day at Bt10.30, compared with its IPO at Bt10 per share. It was the seventh most active security on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) yesterday.

The Bt7.95-billion fund, with three office buildings of Quality Houses as underlying assets, was managed by SCB Asset Management.

So far, there are 11 property funds listed on the stock market.

The Quality Houses Property Fund is the fourth property fund to be listed on the SET this year. The other three are TU Dome Residential Complex Property Fund and Future Park Property Fund, which were managed by ING Funds (Thailand), and the Bt9.5-billion Samui Airport Property Fund, managed by Siam City Asset Management, a subsidiary of Siam City Bank.

For the remaining eight property funds, only the prices of CPN Retail Growth Property Fund, the country's largest property fund, and One Asset Management's Millionaire Property Fund managed to stay above the IPO price. The Bt10.92-billion CPN fund recently announced it would increase the size of its capital by another Bt7.17 billion. It aims to expand to US$10 billion (Bt352 billion).

According to research by DBS Vickers Securities, the firm suggested investors invest directly in Quality House stock.

"Quality House sold some of its assets to the fund. This will not only mark Bt1.1 billion in profit to the company, but also decrease the debt-per-equity ratio. Besides, the company still holds 25.7 per cent in the Quality Houses Property Fund," the report said.

Meanwhile, Jones Lang LaSalle Thailand's managing director Suphin Mechuchep said in a statement that office buildings were one of the most attractive asset types from investors' point of view this year, as witnessed by the purchases of five office buildings worth over Bt6 billion by local and international institutional investors.

Suphin said that investment in office assets may involve very low risk as the market is in an upturn phase where supply is limited and demand remains strong.

The firm's head of markets Caroline Murphy said the outlook for the Bangkok office market next year was positive, because of business expansion and rising rents.

Piyarat Setthasiriphaiboon

The Nation