Competition is keeping home prices stable,for now

Property Perfect's chief operating officer Dr Teerachon Manomaiphi -boon said most property developers cannot raise housing prices despite construction cost rising due to the high level of competition in the market.

"Most of them have had to adjust their management cost and have also tried to find ways to reduce their construction cost by developing faster construction processes," he said.

Meanwhile, property developers have had to reduce the size of the housing units to match customer demand because purchasing power has dropped. This is because, though the country's economy has grown slightly, the cost of living has been rising, Teerachon said.

Asian Property Development's chief executive Anuphong Assavabhokhin said the high level of competition in the market has forced property developers to keep the price of residential units stable. As a result, most of them have had to manage costs to keep their margins between 28 per cent and 30 per cent and net profit growth at 10 per cent.

"We have tried to manage costs by reducing our management cost and also by improving our construction process that helps us reduce labour costs and deliver residential units to our customers on time. This is expected to create better cash flows for our business," he said.

Meanwhile, most developers are expected to have stock on-hand ready for sale at prices close to what they were last year, at least till the second half of the year.  Consequently, home-buyers will be able to continue buying houses at existing prices, he said.