Bangkok real estate market shows resilience

In the market for office space, there have been signs of recovery in demand with leasing activities growing as compared to last year. This is partly because companies that had delayed expansion plans last year decided to proceed with them to ensure their ability to continually capture business opportunities.

Another reason has been that companies are now taking advantage of depressed market conditions and seeking more favourable lease terms.

In the Bangkok retail market, uncertainty in the Thai and global economies continued to hinder the market while the consumerconfidence index continued its downward trend. Prospects in the retail market were dampened further with the state of emergency being imposed in Bangkok, leading to cancellation of travel plans by tourists.

In the short term, this adversely affected not only the hotel industry but also the retail sector. However, the market is generally undersupplied with average vacancy in prime retail centres growing at a singledigit rate. The emerging con¬cept of community malls continued to perform well.