Political crisis forces firm to revise targets

"Our presales in the first eight months of the year were just Bt1 bil¬lion, lower than our target figure. As a result, we were forced to revise our target from Bt1.9 billion for this year to between Bt1.5 billion and Bt1.6 billion. This will also affect our revenue expectations, which will be lower than the estimated Bt1 billion for the year," managing director Somchao Tanterdtham said.

NC Housing recorded revenues of Bt383.39 million and a net loss of Bt7.53 million in the first half of the year. It is one of the many property companies that have been negatively affected due to a shift in homebuy¬ers' preferences. Buyers now prefer city condominiums, located close to the central business district, over detached houses or townhouses, which are usually situated far away from the masstransit system.

Somchao said a number of homebuyers had delayed their buying deci¬sions when antigovernment protesters took control the Government House two weeks ago.

As a result, the number of visitors to the company's residential projects fell from the average 15 to 20 per proj¬ect per day to 10.

However, he believes that when country's political problems get resolved, demand for residential proj¬ects will rise and the company will be able meet its new sales target.