Slowdown in foreclosed assets sales

As a result, the department estimates the sales value of foreclosed assets will fall to Bt110 billion by the end of this year from Bt165 billion last year.

Directorgeneral Sirawat Chandharath said rising interest rates were the main fac¬tor discouraging people from buying assets. People not only seek loans to buy assets but also for their renovation. The department has seen a drop in the number of asset buyers after the government's approval of a hike in the interest rate, he said.

He said the slowing economy had led to more bankruptcy cases and now the value of the department's outstanding assets for sale stood at Bt200 billion.

The department plans to cut the auction prices of assets in order to attract bidders, but this means it will share a lesser amount of rev¬enue from the asset sales.

The department's foreclosed asset value in the 2007 fiscal year from October 2006 to September 2007 was Bt165 billion.

Sirawat said that in the first three quar¬ters ending in June this fiscal year, the depart¬ment sold foreclosed assets worth Bt8.7 bil¬lion, or 79 per cent of the target of Bt110 bil¬lion. In the final quarter, the department will work harder to sell remaining assets in order to achieve the sales target.

The department has set a budget of Bt15 million to promote the outstanding assets for sale in the 2009 fiscal year, he said.

He admitted that the department faced the most sales difficulty in the three provinces in the deep South, but it had made good asset sales in the upper part of the South.

Anuchit Siangyai, director of the legal exe¬cution office in Trang, said many people in the deep South had moved to live in other southern provinces including Trang.

The trend has boosted the province's sales of foreclosed assets. In the first three quarters of the 2008 fiscal year, sales were achieved of Bt473 million, 106.8 per cent greater than the target.

"Most assets are land with buildings. We forecast that we can sell foreclosed assets in Trang worth Bt623 million this year," Anuchit said.